The Lord’s prayer begins by us acknowledging and praising who God is and declaring His Kingdom and will to be our first priorities after worship. Then, within this context, the Lord Jesus tells us to ask for three specific things for ourselves: daily provision of bread, forgiveness of sins and deliverance from evil.
To me, it makes sense for us to ask for forgiveness and for deliverance from evil. But why are we told to ask for the provision of our daily needs? After all, doesn’t God already know what we need before we ask (Matt 6:8)? Has He not promised to supply all the needs of His faithful saints (Phil 4:19), just as He cares for the needs of all Creation (Ps 145:15-16)? Is He somehow forgetful, that He needs reminding of our needs on a daily basis?
No, God is not forgetful – and yes, He has promised to supply all our needs. So why must we petition Him daily for bread? There must be something more to this request than meets the eye.
A Heart Exercise
I believe that, at least in part, asking God to provide us with our daily bread is an exercise in humility on our part – an opportunity for us to trust the LORD with deliberateness and purpose; to prepare our hearts intentionally to depend upon Him.
Asking for our daily bread reminds us that all we have is supplied by God, keeping us acutely aware of our need of Him. This goes beyond the provision of our material needs, including spiritual nourishment that we receive in the person of Jesus Messiah – the Living Bread from Heaven, the Bread of Life. As Jesus is the Word made flesh, we also feed on the word of God (Deut 8:3/Matt 4:4; Jer 15:16; Ps 19:9-10), as recorded in Scripture, for our daily spiritual sustenance.
However, our deceitful hearts are ready to betray God at every turn; our natural instincts are to rely on ourselves (or on others, or on worldly things) – not on Him. Unless we are intentional about fighting these inclinations, we will not naturally seek to depend and wait upon God.
Perhaps this is why Jesus taught us to pray in this way – and why we must ask daily for our bread: to keep us in regular dependence upon the Father, not allowing space for pride to grow. Accordingly, the spiritual manna God has for us each day is not designed to last into the next – for we were never created to exist independently of Him, but totally and happily dependent upon His loving care.
The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. (Psalm 145:15-16)
Accepting His Provision
We have all had it drummed into us over the years that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. What if every believer started each day on their knees before the Lord, humbling themselves to rely upon and receive His provision for that day, declaring: “Lord, I need you to provide for me materially today. Lord, I need to you to feed me with the Bread of Heaven. Lord, I need you to nourish me with the Word. I cannot go further until you meet me with the food you have prepared!”
As we celebrate this week the awesome provision of Jesus’s sacrifice, His body broken for us, may we become ever more aware of our need of Him as our Daily Bread to fulfil, nourish and sustain us to do His will.
May our hearts be humbled to seek Him daily, to rely on Him and to accept from His hand the sustenance we need. And may our experience of walking under the covering of His precious blood extend not only to our assurance of salvation ‘at the end’, but also to new life “in all its fullness” here and now, through the power of the Resurrection and the promised Holy Spirit.
Author: Frances Rabbitts
