Give us This Day our Daily Bread…

Give us this day our daily bread…

When I come to this portion of the prayer, I think of Exodus and God raining down bread upon the Israelites. The Israelites had been complaining that they had nothing to eat so God 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, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not” (Exodus 16:4). God’s daily provision of bread sustained the Israelites during the next forty years while they wandered the desert. They didn’t have to tend the soil, thresh wheat, or build ovens, they only had to walk outside their tent and scoop up a day’s portion of bread. There was one day, however, during each week when they were permitted to gather more than a day’s portion, that was the Sabbath—a day set aside to honor God.

But upon reading God’s words closely I realize God also tested the Israelites. You would think free bread every day wouldn’t be much of a test, but God was testing was whether they would rely upon him for their provision or not. They had to trust God’s word that he would sustain them the next day. Yet, even so, some people failed God’s test by gathering more than a day’s worth of bread only to find that the extra was rotten the next morning.
Most people today have pantries full of food for the following few days or weeks ahead. Some people have even rented out storage facilities where they are storing food in case of some sort of disaster. We want assurances that we will be able to eat tomorrow…and the next day…and the next day…and I don’t think God has a problem with that. God wants us to be wise and plan for our families (I Timothy 5:8), he does not call everyone to live like George Muller, never knowing from where the next day’s food might come. In relation to food, we must be thankful each day, realizing that we are reliant upon God for our daily bread, and reasonably, I might add, anything else.

But, I think there is something else to Jesus’s words than praying that God would fill our stomachs.

Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world…I am the bread of life” (John 6:32-33). The Bible isn’t some sort of codebook for which we need a lucky decoder ring to understand it. But there are some things in the Bible that should be read for more than just face value. This portion of the Lord’s prayer is one of those. Jesus expanded on the Biblical understanding of “bread” when he claimed to be “the true bread from heaven,” and in so doing, Jesus indicated that we need to receive spiritual food each day.

Jesus told the Jewish leaders, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). The Bible does not, in and of itself, bring life, but it points to Jesus, who does bring life. You might think that by saying this Jesus was telling people not to read the scriptures, but I think it’s just the opposite; the scriptures point us to Jesus, the bread from heaven, the giver of life. It is through the scriptures, as guided by the Holy Spirit, that we receive Jesus for our souls.

I know it is possible to build up a pantry of “Jesus-bread” so we don’t feel like we have to go to the “Scriptures grocery store” every day. The more we read and study the Bible, the more we are able to recall from it at any given time. But, there is something about diving into the Bible each day that a trip to the pantry can never replace. Without being legalistic, I will think continual and regular communication is necessary if we want to maintain a good relationship with our friends. Can you imagine saying to your best friend or spouse, “I have so many good memories of you that I don’t feel like I need to talk to you every day?” Seems sort of silly when you think about it, doesn’t it? Then why would we say the same thing to Jesus, the bread of life?

But that’s not all; I think there is yet another thing Jesus meant when he told us to pray for our daily bread.

In John’s Gospel, we find a story about Jesus traveling through Samaria where he encountered a Samaritan woman. Most often we only think about Jesus’s conversation with the woman, but after she returns to town, we read this, “Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:31-34).

Not only does bread mean bread; and not only does bread mean Jesus; but bread also means the act of doing the will of the Father. Without repeating what I’ve written in a previous post (Your Will be Done) I simply say that God’s will is that we follow him morally in all our ways and to become his hands, feet, and mouth to the world around us. Jesus said in John 4:35, “Lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” Doing the will of God begins with loving him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but it doesn’t end there; we must also love our neighbor as ourselves.

Food for our stomachs,
Jesus for our souls,
The Father’s work for our hands.
And so we pray, every day,
Give us this day our daily bread…

Read the Next Post: Forgive us our debts, as we ourselves forgive others