top of page

Our Daily Bread

Writer's picture: TJ JohnsonTJ Johnson

The first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer focus on God’s glory. The last three petitions begin to focus on our needs . Today, we shall consider what it means to pray “Give us this day, our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11).

 

As we come to the last three of the six petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, we should notice that petitions four, five, and six all flow out of the third petition (“Thy will be done”). In other words, as we look at the last three petitions, we learn that we do God’s will by (1) depending on God’s providence for the blessings of this life (fourth petition), (2) relying on God’s mercy for the pardon of our sins (fifth petition), and (3) trusting in God’s power for strength against temptation and deliverance from evil.

 

When we pray, “Give us this day, our daily bread,” we are reminding ourselves how dependent we are on God’s grace for all that we are and all that we have. We are remembering that in Adam, and by our own sin, we have forfeited the right to all the blessings of this life. We deserve God’s justice and wrath. We deserve to be wholly deprived of all the blessings of this life by God.

 

It is true that in the civil sphere, man has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, when we remember our relationship to God, we must remember that each of these rights have been forfeited by sin. God is not bound to respect any of man's "rights." It is only by His grace and mercy that sinful human beings continue to receive and enjoy earthly blessings.

 

To pray “give us this day” reminds us that our lives are in God’s hands every moment. Even Christians have a tendency to forget how dependent we are on God’s providence for every moment of our lives. Geerhardus Vos writes, “We tend to place our faith in things rather than in the God who gives us the things.” When we put our confidence in ourselves, people, or other things as opposed to God, this is a form of idolatry. This petition reminds us to trust in God and His providence in every circumstance.

 

In this petition we are also reminding ourselves that we cannot procure the things that we need in this life by our own efforts. A man may plant corn, but if God does not provide rain and sunlight, there will be no harvest. Men may build ships and airplanes, but it is God who controls the weather and circumstances, the ship will sink and the plane will crash. This petition reminds us that every detail of our lives is completely dependent upon God.

 

This petition specifically mentions our ‘daily bread.’ The ‘bread’ here refers to all things pertaining to both our physical being and our well-being (ie. food, shelter, work, family, health). To pray for God to supply these needs is to express our trust and dependence on Him to meet our needs. We are asking that God would provide that which we need, not that which we want.

 

It is also interesting that in this petition, we are reminded that as Christians we live life in community. Jesus teaches us to pray give “us” this day. We are to ask that God would provide “our” daily bread. This petition reminds us of our duty to intercede for others and ask that God would meet all their physical and well-being needs so that they too might glorify Him.

 

Ultimately, this petition should remind us that earthly blessings are an incredible free gift to God’s children. They are free because we cannot earn them, nor do we deserve them. But thanks be to God, earthly blessings were purchased for God’s children by the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ has given them to us a free gift.

 

In closing, as we think about praying for our daily bread, we should also be reminded of the contentment that we should have with the earthly gifts that God sees fit to give us. If we do not have contentment, we cannot really enjoy and appreciate the blessings of God. We should remember that “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6)

33 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Комментарии


bottom of page