Daily Bread

As we continue our series about the Lord’s Prayer we are diving into the first of many tough statements:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread….”

As a mother of 3 boys I have a new appreciation for how quickly they can go through an entire loaf of bread.

I never thought I’d be able to purchase 3 loaves of bread and not have any of them become stale before they were eaten…Costco and I are becoming quick friends. We provide food for our children and we’d never think of withholding bread from them. Scripture tells us that our Heavenly Father takes care of us in much the same way.

I remember hearing my Dad talk about the Israelites in the wilderness and how God provided for them each day. The entire story is laid out in Exodus chapter 16, but to summarize; let me recap the details behind mankind, Moses and manna.

Mankind The Israelites were God’s chosen people but they were also just like children. They were whiny, forgetful, selfish and always wanted whatever wasn’t in front of them. Abraham was the father of the Israelite nation and God promised Abraham that his decedents would inherit a place called “the promised land”.  While waiting for the promised land to come the Israelites disobeyed God, they were defeated and taken as slaves and their lives were miserable as a result of their inability to trust and follow God. {some of this is sounding just a bit too familiar in my own life, you?}

Moses In the midst of being slaves in Egypt an unlikely leader came to their rescue. Although he didn’t really want the job, God chose Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. He listened and obeyed God (in the beginning) and freed the Israelites from their bondage. If you’ve ever been on a road trip with your family and hear the phrase, “Are we there yet?” or “How much longer?!” – multiply that by 100 and you’ll feel a bit of what Moses dealt with.

Manna Along with complaining about the journey taking too long (it ended up lasting 40 years), the people complained about not having enough to eat. These people were constantly moving and they were in the desert – options for eating out were slim. So God provided them with manna. According to scripture, this wafer-type food would appear from the due left on the ground each morning. The rules were simple: take only what you need for your family, don’t store any extra (except for the day before the Sabbath because no manna would come on the Sabbath).

When we pray the words “give us this day our daily bread”, we acknowledge that we are human and have needs. Hopefully we’re not as whiny as the Israelites, but it’s okay to ask God to meet our needs.  We can learn a lot from the Israelites and their need for daily nourishment. There’s a WHOLE lot more behind the request for daily bread.

When we pray for our daily bread we can apply what we learn from Mankind, Moses and Manna and in turn we understand the following truths:

1. Asking God for something means we agree to do our best to live a life that is in line with His will for us. It doesn’t mean being perfect, but if we have disobeyed or turned away from God’s direction for our life we are limiting God’s blessings.

2. Sometimes God gives us our daily bread through other people. Whether it’s a kind word or a helpful hand, we want to be aware so we don’t miss God’s provisions for us. Sometimes these blessings and answers to our prayer can come from the little people or the adults who are right in front of us.

3. God will give us exactly what we need, when we need it and He’ll give us just enough to help us make it through our day. It’s easy to start worrying about all the “what ifs” and “tomorrows” out there – but for now, let’s just focus on today. Let’s give God the glory for giving us what we need during this day, right now.

Isn’t it wonderful that God hears our prayers?!

He cares about our needs and He promises to give us our daily bread, even before we ask.

You are an amazing woman who is or has made a difference today.

Keep praying, enjoy the daily bread God provides and get ready for our biggest request yet in the next post.

Thank you for reading, for passing this along and for being so wonderful and supportive!

Kasey