“Give us this day our daily bread”
“Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:8, 9)
The principle of “daily” provision is one that has been part of God’s rhythm since creation began. It was illustrated most clearly when He provided manna for the people of Israel in the wilderness. God sent the manna (bread of heaven) each day for the people to gather. There were specific instructions to only gather enough for that day. One day at a time. There was always enough for everybody. They were also told not to gather more than they needed for that day. If they did it would spoil by the next day. Israel was learning to depend upon God one day at a time.
In this part of the Lord’s Prayer Jesus calls for us to be of the same mind. This phrase of the prayer may seem a little strange to us in our day and age. We are more accustom to praying for more than the needs of the day. We are thinking about the future and if we will have enough to last. We ask for God to supply our needs for a week or a month. It seems that people today are always wanting more than enough. They take what they can get and then some. We have become really good at acquiring things. We fill our pockets…we fill our garages…we fill our homes…and then we fill storage units with our stuff. Somewhere along the way we have lost one of the blessings of our faith…the blessing of contentment. Over the next few days we will take the opportunity to meditate on God’s great provision for us and how we can learn to pray more effectively about it.
Today, as you pray through the prayer, begin to think about what it means to trust your Father to give you just what you need for this day. Not too much because you may forget that you need Him. Not too little because you don’t want to dishonor Him. But just enough to do the things He has called you to do.
“Give us this day our daily bread”