Our Daily Bread
“Give us this day our daily bread,” is one of the lines from the Lord’s Prayer. I have said these words hundreds of times over the course of my life, and yet now it takes on a completely different meaning.
das Brot
For many places, including Germany, bread is a huge part of the culture. Bread is found everywhere and in many different forms. Eaten at least once, if not multiple times a day, bread remains one of the most basic forms of sustenance.
When we pray, “give us this day our daily bread,” we ask God to give us what we need for that day. We pray that he will give us the things we need for survival, for nourishment, for strength to live in the present moment for him.
As much as I love getting bread here in the grocery stores, I cannot buy up bread for a whole month. It will go bad, become stale, and grow moldy. It will not taste the same. Instead, if I want bread, I buy it on the day that I need it.
I think the same is true with God. When we come to him daily, we receive fresh bread that will nourish us and sustain us, but when we look too far into the future and stockpile our resources, we end up with bread that is inedible.
This is crucial to the way we live. When we pray and ask God for our daily bread, we acknowledge our need for him and his provision. We acknowledge that we cannot do this alone.
It also gives us an opportunity to be present. Asking for our daily bread means asking for what we need today. We do not get burdened with what we might need in the future: with anxieties, with worries, and with uncertainties. We remain in the present and ask God to give us what we need today, right now, in this moment.
In this season of my life, spending time with him and asking for what I need for this day is more important than ever. My mind wanders easily to the future and becomes worried about the things I don’t yet have or know. However, in this teaching Jesus invites us to come to God each day and receive from him what we need.
This part of the Lord’s Prayer is about trust and surrender. It is about receiving in due time what the Lord has for us. And we know that his purposes are good, and that his heart is full of love for us. He will give us what we need when we need it. And so we pray, “give us this day our daily bread.”
We invite you to join us in our Explore the Bible series on Tuesday evenings as we discuss different teachings of Jesus such as this one. Next week we’ll be discussing money and possessions and would love to have you participate.