Our daily bread

Give us this day our daily bread. – Matthew 6.11

When Jesus was teaching His disciples this model prayer it was a different world from what most of us know today. The people Jesus was talking to understood this phrase better than most of us do today. They lived everyday basically to put food on their tables. Their whole lives were occupied with just staying alive. Though tragically there are vast numbers of people around the world who live like that today, most reading this are not too concerned with where their next meal will come from.

So does it even apply today to those of us who live in relative comfort? We may not have much, and may not have everything we want, but we do get by. Do we really need the same reliance on God where we must ask Him to provide our daily bread?

I think we need to be aware that even now He is our great provider. The little comfort and cushion many of us live with is always temporal and could be gone in a flash. I just read an early sci-fi novel called ‘The Way in the Air.’ In it H.G. Wells writes of a great world war that causes an overnight collapse of the world economy. As a result people who had everything suddenly had nothing. Even their daily bread became a struggle.

While we don’t like to think about it even the most secure of us face the same kind of disaster. Another war or natural disaster or financial collapse could turn everything on its head overnight.

We enjoy our comfort. Those of us who have it enjoy the security of knowing that today’s dinner is in the fridge or freezer or down at Tesco or as close as a phone call to a take away. We do need to remember though that Our Father is still our ultimate Provider.

When we forget who really provides our daily bread and become dependent on the bread itself we are setting ourselves up for disappointment and despair.

Jesus’ prayer of so long ago is for us today. Let’s not forget who provides our bread and remember to rely on Him, give Him thanks, and never take Him for granted.