“Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11
Sadly, our daily dependence on God was felt more deeply by people in earlier centuries than it often is today. We depend on mostly unseen processes that bring food from the farm, to the store, to our tables.
But one thing we are learning from the pandemic is that things we assume will always be there can suddenly disappear. We depend on God more than we often think. And Jesus teaches us to ask that the Father give us the bread we need today.
When God brought His people out of slavery in Egypt, He parted the Red Sea and brought them safely to the other side. But then God’s people faced a long trek through the desert to reach the Promised Land. How would they survive? What would they eat in the wilderness?
The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day” (Ex. 16:4). The people ground it, boiled it, and made cakes with it: “The taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it” (Num. 11:8-9).
The manna was a gift from heaven. God provided it. When Jesus tells us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” He is reminding us that we depend on God for our food as much as God’s people did in the desert.
If you have a job… if you own a home… if you are in good health… if you have a refrigerator stocked with food for the week… if you are a wise steward of your money and you have a healthy 401k, why would you need to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”? Because all that you have can easily be lost. Therefore, you must lean on the Lord to provide.
Do you really believe that we depend on God for our food as much as God’s people did in the desert? Why or why not?
