Teach us to pray, part 36: Daily Bread

And He said to them, "When you pray, say: ' Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 'Give us each day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'" (Luke 11:2-4 NASB)

We come now to the phrase "give us each day our daily bread". The word here for daily is epiousios, and Strong's explains it to mean "for this day and the next". The idea here is that God will provide enough for today and tomorrow, so that we will not be fearful today about what we will need tomorrow. For one who has a tendency toward concern for tomorrow before I've begun today, this is the kind of provision that gives me great comfort. It's provision that allows me to enjoy the gifts of today, knowing that tomorrow is also secure.

This kind of prayer for "daily bread" is not a prayer for champagne and caviar. This is a prayer for what is necessary, not what is extravagant. It is not a request for wants, but for needs. I have a sad history of many wants (and of obtaining those wants), most of which have nothing to do with needs. When I rein in my requests to that which is necessary, it allows me to leave the extras to my Heavenly Father, who is far more generous than I could ever deserve. 

When I truly ask for my "daily bread", I begin to focus on my needs rather than my wants. I've found that the things I have accumulated take on a different light, as well. Not everything I've accumulated is something I still need, and many of these things could better serve someone else. There is great freedom in passing items that are still serviceable to someone who can use it. 

There is something very interesting about the word translated here as bread. According to Thayer's, this is the word for bread made from flour and water. It is the thickness of a thumb and baked in a round cake about the size of a plate. This bread is to be broken, not sliced, and is the same word used to describe the bread eaten at the Last Supper, the bread about which Jesus said, "This is my body, broken for you." It is also the same word Jesus used when He said, "I am the bread of life." (John 6:35)   In a way, when I pray "Give us this day our daily bread," I am also asking that I have all the spiritual sustenance I need. It is a request for as much of Christ as I will require, as well.

May God give us each day the spiritual and physical sustenance we need. This week, let's make a conscious effort to focus on both our spiritual and physical needs, remembering that the provision for both come from God alone. 

Battle in the Wilderness: Better than Bread (Luke 4:3,4)

And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'" (Luke 4:3, 4 NASB)

In Jesus' time, there were no printing presses to produce large quantities of printed materials. That would not come until Gutenberg in 1450. There had been other forms of movable type printing, but nothing that could handle large quantities until Gutenberg's invention. In Jesus's time, the only "books" were painstakingly handwritten scrolls. There were no children's Bibles for young ones to handle and read.  Instead, young Jewish boys were schooled in local synagogues, where they were trained to memorize Scripture. The boys were supposed to memorize the books of the Torah - the first five books of our Bible. (The girls were taught Psalms and Proverbs by their mothers.) It was an incredible feat of memorization that we have, sadly and to our detriment, abandoned today. 

When the enemy tempted Jesus to turn the stone into bread, Jesus responded by quoting a verse from Deuteronomy 8:3. (Matthew records the entire quote, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds from the mouth of God.") This was a particularly astute use of Scripture because this passage is one in which the children of Israel had just spent forty years in the wilderness. They were about to enter the Promised Land, and it was Moses job to teach them how to live obediently once they entered. In this passage, Moses was explaining the purpose of the wilderness. He said that God had allowed the wilderness to humble them, test them, reveal what was in their hearts, evaluate their willingness to obey Him, and to discipline them. It is the purpose of our own wilderness times today. They are designed to make us more willing to obey and more like our Lord. 

Jesus clearly understood that His time in the wilderness was also a time of testing and preparation for what God had prepared for Him. He was determined not to fail and realized the test was not yet complete. This final part was a critical portion in testing His willingness to submit to the will of God.  The verse Jesus quoted was speaking of the manna God had given the Israelites in the wilderness. Moses said that God allowed them to experience hunger, then fed them with manna so that they could understand that they "didn't live by bread alone."  Jesus understood that God could and would provide in His timing. 

What we ingest orally is not nearly as important as what we ingest into our hearts and minds by what we choose to read, watch, and hear. Jesus clearly felt that the Scriptures provided a nourishment that bread alone could never provide. Are we filling ourselves with Scripture? Do we ingest daily nourishment from the Word of God? In Jesus's own words, bread is not enough. To really live, we desperately need the Word of God. Are you receiving a steady diet of God's word? Do you spend enough time with Him to be nourished and strengthened for your day? Perhaps during our own wilderness experiences, those difficult times that come to all of us, we drew strength from God, but have we moved away and begun to rely on ourselves? 

Today, consider the Spiritual nourishment you ingest every day. Do you need to spend more time studying the Bible? Memorizing Scripture? 

Pray today that God will help you move to greater strength via the Word of God. Pray, too, that God will bring every verse our children and loved ones have memorized back to their minds and use it to draw them back to Himself. 

Battle in the Wilderness: Stone vs. Bread (Luke 4:3)

The Devil, playing on his hunger, gave the first test: “Since you’re God’s Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread.”  (Luke 4:3 MSG)

Jesus had just completed a forty day fast and was hungry. His days of divine solitude were coming to an end, and the Tempter was ready for the attack. Seeing His vulnerable point of hunger, he struck by tempting Jesus to turn a stone to bread. Instant gratification.

We love instant gratification, don't we? I'd have been tempted to do it, and Jesus must have been too, because these temptations were tailor-made for Him. There is a difference, however, between waiting for God's provision and trying to make a provision for yourself. Remember how well her attempt turned out for Sarah? We are still dealing with the mess between Isaac and Ishmael today.

Could Jesus turn a stone to bread? Of course. It would not have been a temptation if it were not possible. The interesting thing here is that, as God's Son, present at the foundation of the world, the Holy Trinity had spoken the stone into existence. He had created the stone, and it belonged  to Him, to do with as He would. So what is the problem here?

Jesus's ministry required absolute selflessness and the enemy was tempting Him to selfishness. The temptation was to misuse His power for selfish gain. It was a temptation to worship self rather than God the Father.

For the One coming to sacrifice Himself for a perishing world, absolute submission to the Father's will was critical. There was no room for pleasing self. His only job, His only purpose on earth was pleasing the Father. Waiting for God's timing, even in meeting the most basic of human needs, was essential.

Wow! That is one tall order. Absolute submission to God's will and total selflessness are tall orders for frail humanity. Is it possible? Yes. Is it easy? Not always.

Today, pray for the grace to wait for God's timing in every aspect of life. Pray, too, that we, and our loved ones, would be more interested in pleasing our heavenly Father than in pleasing ourselves.