
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
Matthew 6:11 NKJV
I think one of the most crippling fears of the human spirit is the fear of not having enough to eat. Will we have enough? We are managing now, but what about the future? What if I lose my job? What if the kids get sick? What if I am unable to work? How will we survive? Fear of not having enough to eat can destroy a sense of well-being daily and erode hope for the future.
Could this verse also suggest, “Deliver us, O Lord, from the fear of not having enough to eat”? Give us bread for today, and with it, give us confidence that we will have enough tomorrow. Our prayer can legitimately suggest, “Give us today the bread that does not run out.” This mindset focuses on an amount, frequency, and the fear that we will not have enough. It requests deliverance from that fear. It also implies that the bread requested is bread, not cake, cars, or wealth.
We pray OUR BREAD, not my bread. Bread is a gift; when we pray and ask for our bread, we affirm that all bread comes as a gift. It comes as a gift from the one who owns all things. It is not a right, and we have not created it. We are given such gifts in trust, holding and using them for the one who gives them. All material possessions are on loan from their owner, the God who created matter itself.
When you pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Do you ask for bread that sustains life, not all its extras? Do you mean ours and not mine? Do you acknowledge it is a gift?