Our Daily Bread - Learning from Others

- from Randal Working, From Rebellion to Redemption. 288-289.
The fourth request reveals the compassion of the heavenly Father who knows we are needy creatures. He desires to fill our needs and also that we might humbly trust him for them. He tells us to ask for our “daily bread,” which sums up all of life’s necessities. Just like bread, we need shelter, food, drink, clothing, and transportation – to say nothing of spiritual food, comfort, and shelter. This petition encompasses everything we need to nurture body and soul. Daily bread is everything we need in order to live.

…The request implies perhaps a limitation. As Dale Bruner points out, we are invited not to pray for cake but for bread. Most of us in the West have been richly blessed materially, yet impoverished spiritually. We are allowed to pray for what we need, but are not given permission to pray for luxury beyond our need. There are times when God gives cake anyway, and then we are free to gratefully receive the gift.

…Praying for our daily bread reminds us that God alone is the source of all good. Without his blessing, nothing prospers. Even the material things we need are not products of nature but gifts from God. Rather than strive for more than what we have, we can learn to desire the good that God has for us. In so doing, we will grow in humble confidence in God. Putting confidence in anything else is futile and is what the preacher of Ecclesiastes calls “vanity.” Friends disappoint, retirement funds are swindled, business deals collapse, and strength withers. The only sure hope is God, the font of all blessings. Without him, even abundance leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

The children of Israel learned a lesson with bread and meat in the wilderness. Exodus 16 tells how every morning, God covered the ground with flakes of bread called manna; every evening, he drove quail to cover the camp. Each person was to gather as much as was needed for the day, and there was enough for all.

…Manna served to graphically demonstrate to Israel that God would care for his own. God was pleased when they would simply accept his gift, trusting him for what they needed. We are invited to do the same as we come to him day by day.