“Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) in the Lord’s Prayer reminds us that we are dependent on God for al of our needs being met. If we believe He is a God who answers prayer than we must believe that what we have comes from Him. That also applies to what we don’t have. What we do have is because of Him, and what we don’t have is because of Him as well – there are things He chooses not to give us. Therefore we must be content with what He does give us, and what He doesn’t give us. Implied in this prayer for our daily needs is trust in Him and contentment with what we have.
We must be content that He provides for us as we need it “daily” bread. He doesn’t provide far in advance so we won’t have to worry about what will happen. He expects us to trust Him no matter what to provide when needed. That is we are to trust Him to provide our needs. Too often we expect Him to provide for our wants as well. We must know the difference between our needs and our greeds. He tells us to pray for our daily bread, not our daily cake. When Jesus made a meal it was baked fish and barley bread: plain, basic, healthy, nourishing food. It wasn’t chocolate eclairs He provided. There is nothing wrong with fancy food from time to time, but to expect God to provide for all our special wants all the time is wrong.
Contentment means we trust God to provide what we need and to provide it when we need it. If He isn’t doing that then we are either demanding a ‘want,’ not a ‘need,’ or we are not waiting patiently until the day we actually need it but want it ahead of time.
Are you a content person? Would God say you are content? Are you satisfied with the basic necessities of life or do you demand more and more? Can you discern the difference between a want and a need?
Are you a patient person? Are you willing to let God provide in His way and in His time? Do you worry about the future, or do you trust His promise to meet all your needs (Philippians 4:19)?
You can’t pray “give us today our daily bread” without believing He will give you what you need (nothing less, but nothing more, either) when you need it.
(Written by Jerry Schmoyer, 2014. You can find more of his writings at http://www.christiantrainingonline.org/. If you have questions or suggestions feel free to contact him at jerry@schmoyer.net)