[In Matthew 14:13-21] a crowd of five thousand is listening to Jesus speak. He doesn't want to send them away hungry, but there aren't any eating establishments anywhere. Then a nameless boy offers his brown-bag lunch of five loaves and two fish to Jesus. It's a nice gesture, but Andrew verbalizes what all the other disciples must have been thinking: "How far will they go among so many? … Andrew starts doing the math in his head and it doesn't add up.
In terms of addition, 5 + 2 = 7. But if you add God into the equation, 5 + 2 ≠ 7. When you give what you have to God, He multiplies it so that 5 + 2 = 5,000. Not only does God multiply the meal so that it feeds five thousand; the disciples actually end up with more leftovers than they had food to begin with. Only in God's economy! The twelve baskets of remainders means the most accurate equation is this: 5 + 2 = 5,000 R12.
If you put what little you have in your hand into the hand of God, it won't just add up; God will make it multiply.
One footnote. Do you recall what Jesus did right before the miracle? It says Jesus "gave thanks." He didn't wait until after the miracle; He thanked God for the miracle
before the miracle happened.
-- Mark Batterson in “The Circle Maker”
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