Our title today comes from Matthew 6:11 which is part of what we refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer”. Jesus Himself prayed this prayer as an example to us and that makes it especially important for us to learn and understand. It is to our great benefit to apply His words to our lives and when we fail to do so we miss out on many of the blessings that God has prepared for us.
I find it especially important that Jesus included the phrase “give us this day our daily bread”. In effect, Jesus is telling us that we need to recognize that our provision comes from God and that it will be sufficient for “today” (meaning now). Looking at it another way, when we fail to ask God to provide what we need, we are either exercising a lack of faith (we don’t believe God can really provide what we need) or outright denial of God (we ignore His authority completely and count on ourselves or others for provision). Either way, it is a mistake that we can’t afford to make.
It’s also important here to know what the Bible means when it refers to bread. In a broad sense, bread is everything that we need to survive and thrive. It is physical nourishment, it is energy and will, it is fellowship and spiritual renewal and it is most definitely salvation unto eternal life. All of this comes from God and is available to us if only we will ask and believe.
The problem for us comes when we fail to ask or worse, fail to believe. For many of God’s children, even though we have may have made a profession of faith at some point, we leave God out of the most fundamental things in life by simply not asking and by not taking our needs directly to Him. He knows us, He created us and He is standing ready to provide. He has our daily bread ready and waiting for us before we ever ask. He loves us that much and I know it hurts His heart when we struggle alone or look to other sources for what He alone can provide.
The good news is that it is still “today”. There is still time (there is never a bad time) to call upon the Lord and cast all of our cares on Him. He has prepared what each of us needs to make it through whatever we are facing today. Have we humbly asked and then, in faith, expected Him to provide? Or, in the midst of our business and worry, have we forgotten Who created the world and everything in it, and is due all glory and honor forevermore?