Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

"Give us today our daily bread." —Matthew 6:11

I remember sitting in the office of the worship pastor of our church. I came to him with my concerns over our still-fledgling ministry and the constant need for provision. He quoted me this verse from The Lord’s Prayer, and explained that Jesus was praying only for what was needed right then. He was not asking the Father for the weekly, monthly, or annual needs. He was solely asking for what was needed in the current day. The idea being that we would come to God each and regularly and ask Him for provision.

It is much like the Israelites in the wilderness. Every morning of their 40-year sojourn in the desert, God would rain down bread from Heaven—Manna. But He warned them in advance to only gather as much as they needed and not to keep any for tomorrow, with the exception of the Sabbath.

"Then Moses said to them, 'No one is to keep any of it until morning.' However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell." —Exodus 16:20

A big problem with the Israelites, among many others, was that they were still thinking like slaves even though they had been set free physically from their bondage and delivered out of Egypt. They did not trust this God who led them out, because they did not really know Him. And many of them didn’t want to know Him better. So, relying solely upon Him for their food each time the sun rose, was a tall order.

But there was more to the Lord’s strategy with the manna than we might, at first glance, realize. If they wanted to eat, they had to believe He would provide. They would have to get up early to gather the manna from the fields before it melted away in the heat of the sun.

He also taught them about resting on the Sabbath by providing a double portion the day before, which was the only batch of manna that kept an extra twenty-four hours. This was so they did not have to go out and gather but could rest and observe the Sabbath.

In learning to trust God for their provision they learned about God’s intentions toward them on a regular basis. And as they began to see His faithfulness, they trusted Him more and became more dependent upon Him.

It is not that different with us. “Give us our daily bread” is a basic reminder to come to the Lord each morning with all of our needs. In coming to Him and putting our requests before Him, we are reminded of our dependence upon Him. It is not that we can’t pray about what we need down the road, but that He encourages us to come every day into His presence and lay our concerns before Him so that we might experience His faithfulness afresh—and by that know and better trust Him more.

During one of our weekly prayer times on Zoom for September's A Tour of Roses Israel Project later this year, I felt like the Lord impressed on me that one of the spiritual strongholds in Israel has to do with being self-reliant. I think most human beings have this problem on one level or another. But one of the greatest tragedies in the Book of Judges can be summed up by the last line:

"In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes." —Judges 21:25

But we do have a King, who is over all kings, and a Lord, who is above all lords, who is sovereign over all, and He invites us to believe Him enough to trust Him daily for all that we need.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God… And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

—Philippians 4:6,19

—Sally Klein O'Connor

4/22/24