Do you always pray before you eat? What do you say? Why? Are you gratefully thanking God for His gracious supply? Do you ever complain about the meal after you have thanked God for it? It may seem surprising that Christ put this request ahead of asking for the forgiveness of our sins. But He did, and when we say these words we are acknowledging that we are dependent on our Heavenly Father to give us, as one version says, 'the bread we shall need'. Are we really supposed to pray like that when we have a good job and a secure income? Yes, we are, because everything we have comes from our Father. If He took His hand off us, or if He took it off the world, we would have nothing! Another rendering of this phrase is: "Give us today the bread suited to our needs". How many different kinds of bread are there today? White bread, brown bread, whole meal bread, multi-grain bread… the list goes on and on. What kind do we need? The Scripture mentions several kinds of bread. The Bread of Life, which obviously we all need, is Christ Himself. The Word of God is spoken of as food. That, like the manna in the wilderness, needs to be taken daily. The bread of tears (Ps 80:5) and the bread of adversity (Isa 30:20) are two more kinds of bread mentioned in the Bible. We are not sure that we want either of these. However God knows what kind of bread I need and He sometimes gives one of these kinds of bread to us. When we have learned to accept and even digest it, the bread He gave is able to do what He planned. Notice it is "Our daily bread". Yesterday's bread is not sufficient for today, nor tomorrow. Are you living on yesterday's experience? What fresh bread has God given you today? Thank Him for it. It is the daily bread you asked Him to give you. "GIVE US TODAY THE BREAD SUITED TO OUR NEEDS." |
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