DAILY BREAD

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread…” (Matthew 6:9-11 NIV)

       Jehovah Jireh means God, my provider (The Lord will provide) but what exactly does He provide?  That is the section of the Lord’s prayer I would like to explore this week.

       We all have needs.   We all have wants, desires, and wishes.  Does this mean we get to make a wish to our Father and it is granted?  The answer to that question is no.  God is not a genie in a bottle nor is He a shooting star to be wished upon.  In the context of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus is laying out the proper way to pray in all of life’s situations.  He covers who we pray to and why we pray to God.  Jesus teaches us to focus on the todays of life.  Now Jesus is teaching us to ask God to provide our daily bread.

       Bread was a very big staple of the Israeli diet in Jesus’ day and even today.  You can see examples of a typical meal turned miraculous when Jesus feeds bread and fish to thousands on separate occasions.  So when we are to ask for our daily bread, we are asking for our daily portion of life sustaining food.  So it can be taken quite literal and asking God to physically feed our bodies each day.  But it is also symbolic of our needs physically, mentally, and spiritually.  God already knows our needs and He is willing, in love, to meet our needs.  We are simply returning glory back to God when we ask.  When we pray we draw closer to God.  When we ask for our needs, we are acknowledging God’s kingdom reign in our lives. 

God bless.