“Give us each day our daily bread.” (Luke 11:3, NIV)
When the fridge is full, why pray for daily bread?
It’s a valid question – especially in a first-world context. After all, even tomorrow’s bread is already in the bag for most Americans because of sizable retirement and savings accounts.
But here’s the thing…
When we neglect prayer for daily bread, we miss an opportunity to grow in our dependence on God.
Solomon struggled with this, so he piled up as much gold as he could, only to realize it left him empty. “Everything was meaningless,” he reflected. “A chasing after the wind.” (Eccl. 2:11, NIV)
There’s a cumulative effect when we pray for bread each day. It teaches us that, though life is fragile, God sustains us with His constant provision.
This was the lesson in the wilderness for the Israelites, who collected manna each day for survival. When some gathered more than what was needed, the manna turned to maggots. The stench of the spoiled manna served as a sour indicator of the people’s pride and perceived self-sufficiency.
By teaching us to pray for daily bread, Jesus issues a very practical challenge. Will we cultivate dependence on God through abiding prayer and trusting obedience? Or will we persistently ignore the obvious – that surviving a single day apart from God’s gracious and abundant provision is impossible!?
A life that emits the sweet aroma of trusting obedience or the putrid smell of self-reliance gets determined by how we respond to Jesus’ challenge.
Which will it be for you?
