John 6:5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
The experience recorded in this passage of scripture demonstrates a very common problem many Christians struggle with, and that's the tendency to doubt. Here was a good opportunity for Phillip to manifest a knowledgeable faith in Christ based on past experiences, but yet his faith was shown to be feeble by the answer he gave to Jesus' question.
Prior to this, Jesus had turned water into wine at a marriage feast, thereby showing that he had our temporal food and drink under His control, and therefore He must be able to handle any situation pertaining to the supply of edibles, or a shortage thereof.
It's very important for us to build on our past experiences, where God's power has been manifested in our lives in marked ways, for He often gives us concrete evidences to strengthen our trust in Him, and these occurrences should be treasured by the Christian as being of inestimable value. We should always cultivate a disposition to believe in God, for faith in God is based upon factual evidences that appeal to our reason and intelligence.
For instance, if God has previously healed us of cancer, that factual experience should prevent us from doubting whether He could heal us of diabetes, because He has already shown that he has control of all sickness.
As we get closer and yet closer to the end of earth's history, a living faith in the Eternal God is scheduled to become a rare commodity, and therefore it's of the utmost importance that Christian believers everywhere treasure the past experiences of our lives to stabilize our faith in God during the very difficult times that are ahead. We therefore end with a word of caution pertaining to the disposition of doubt, for the very same experiences of God's people in ages past will be repeated in the last days of earth's history, as we approach the borders of the heavenly Canaan. Let's read:
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Let us never forget the way that God has guided, delivered and saved us in times past, for if we treasure up these experiences in our hearts, we will never be moved by the ups and downs, the hills and the valleys of life. "Good night" and God Bless!