Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread: A Short Meditation On a Very Powerful Supplication

How often do we ramble carelessly through these words as we recite the “Lord’s Prayer,” or more properly, the “Disciple’s Prayer.” I am as guilty as any other sinner of not reflecting on the meaning and recognizing the weight of such a simple request. Have you ever thought about what this means? Have you ever thought, with an utter amazement and thankfulness upon the implications of this short phrase?

Being American, I scarcely know what it means to “want,” let alone to “need.” The same is probably true for all of my fellow Americans. We have supermarkets, malls, large houses. Builders to make those houses, plumbers and electricians to repair them, and all sorts of aides for our everyday life. We are in such a lack of need that we forget what it truly means to be reliant upon God; or at least I do. I rarely second guess that it is a very real possibility that I will not have food to eat tomorrow or a place to sleep. Sure, I may run out of milk for my cereal, but I always have the back up granola bars.

Not long ago some implications of this verse struck me very seriously. While praying, I thought, what if God, in His sovereignty, decided to not provide nourishment for me for a day? Sure, I could handle it for a day or two, but not much longer than that. What God allowed ants to eat all of my cereal? That is in the realm of possibility. Or perhaps the power to go out and my refrigerator to stop keeping my food cold, and my microwave to be unable to warm up the food in the freezer and make it edible? I know that can happen, and it does. In fact, we went 36 hours without power here at Southern a few months ago.

Further, what if my dorm building was to burn down? I would not have somewhere immediately to sleep, and all my stuff would be destroyed. And what if my car somehow rusted out? Oh wait, I have clear-coat to prevent that. Oh wait again, acid rain would eat straight through clear-coat. And what if my cell phone got lost, and my clothes all burned in the dorm fire? Does this sound ridiculous? Well, it’s not. All of this could absolutely happen. Oh, but the chances of it are so slim. Are they really? One thunderstorm could destroy everything. An earthquake could do the same. It’s not really so impossible is it? In fact, it seems more possible everyday that everything that I rely upon to stay alive could be destroyed than that it should survive to meet my needs.

But that rarely happens. Natural disasters aren’t all that common. Who says it would be a “natural” disaster. The LORD gives and He takes away. Blessed be His name, for it is His right to do so (Job 1:21). It is completely by God’s mercy that this all is not destroyed. It is only because He delights in doing good to me (and to all His children, and even to His enemies!) because of Christ Jesus and His death on the cross. If you take away Christ’s death on the cross, I’m burning in Hell right now! But God, in His mercy and out of His delight and patience, gives good both to the wicked and the righteous (Matthew 5:45).

So the next time you sit down to eat a meal, or you go to sleep in a bed, or you kiss your sweetheart goodnight, consider all it took for any of that to be possible. Rain had to fall, wheat had to be harvested, meat had to be processed and sold, springs had to be coiled, feathers had to be plucked, sheets had to be purchased, two people had to procreate (your in-laws), a growing child had to be fed and nurtured, and the state had to grant you a license (and that isn’t the half of all that happened). This should lead you to utter thanksgiving, as it is all the gracious gift of God at the expense of Jesus Christ, His Son (this is known as natural/common grace, and God would be unjust to give it to anyone if Christ had not purchased it). Thank God for Jesus and grace (every gift you receive is the direct result of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, whether you believe it and give thanks for it or not, and I know that I do not give thanks enough). You could easily be the starving child in Africa who doesn’t even have the box of cereal for the ants to eat.

So continually give thanks and seek to know the giver of pleasure, not just the gifts, lest He give you up to your own evil hearts (Romans 1:21-32). Be thankful that God elected you and saved you from your sin rather than giving you up to be a vessel of wrath like so many (assuming you are such). This should drive you to share your wealth as well. Do not store the treasures on earth and give opportunity for their destruction. Rather, give them away to the needy and live off of that which you need (Matthew 6:19-21). And the next time you are praying in your room or reciting the “Lord’s Prayer,” take a moment to meditate on what this means, and say it unhypocritically. Who knows, if you stop asking with thanksgiving, God may stop giving; and tomorrow you may just go without food and shelter.