January 7th: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Today marks day 7 of our 21 days of prayer. For those of you who have been participating since the beginning, we are 1/3 of our way through our journey of praying the way Jesus prayed, about the things Jesus prayed for.
Today, as we continue our way through the LORD’s prayer, recorded in Matthew 6, we find ourselves at the point where Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread,” (Mt 6:11).
One thing that stands out right away, is that Jesus instructed us to pray that God would give us this day i.e. today, our daily bread. Notice he doesn’t say give us this week, this month, or this years daily bread. He said, give us this day, our daily bread. This stresses the fact that we are to go to Him, each day, trusting Him to provide exactly what we need for that day. This fact is stressed later in the same chapter when Jesus instructs us not to be anxious over what we eat or drink (Mt 6:31); nor are we to be anxious over tomorrow, and what it will or will not bring (Mt 6:34). When we pray give us this day our daily bread, we are trusting God with the needs of today, down to the most basic & essential of needs; and if we do this each day, tomorrow we will trust God with the needs of tomorrow, and so on.
The whole notion of daily bread, in fact, is a call-back to the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness, when God literally provided daily bread (manna) that sustained them throughout their journey in the wilderness (see Exodus 16). Each morning God provided manna for the Israelites to eat, exactly what they needed for that day. In fact, if they attempted to collect more and store it (except for on the day leading up to the Sabbath when they were instructed to gather enough for two days), it spoiled overnight (Ex 16:19).
Today, as you spend time praying “Give us this day our daily bread,” (Mt 6:11), thank God for the ways He has provided for your needs in the past, and spend time bringing to Him the needs of today. While you’re at it, praise Him for the different ways He continually has met your needs before you even knew you needed to ask.