Each Friday my writing stems from a word prompt. Five minutes, one word prompt. The prompt this week is … Provide.

‘Provide’ seems easy to define – to supply or equip with what is needed. The opposite of provide would be to withhold or deprive.

God has been providing for His people from the beginning of time. In the garden, He told Adam and Eve to eat freely from the trees. In the wilderness, He provided manna.

The word prompt brought to mind the day a crowd formed on a hill to listen to Jesus preach.

The crowd had been there all day, were getting hungry and there was no supermarket for the disciples to run to for provisions. Upon presenting the problem to Jesus, He sends them to go look and see what they can find.

They return with a boy’s lunch consisting of a few loaves of bread and fewer fish. Five loaves and two fish to be exact. Hardly enough to feed a hungry man, never mind a hungry crowd.

And yet, in the hands of Jesus, the little became much. More than much as there was surplus.

Jesus had provided.
And Jesus will still provide for His people.

“Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.” (Psalm 34:10, NLT)