Daily Bread

I’ve spent a lot of time reading and thinking about the Lord’s Prayer this summer. I just finished teaching a summer series at church on N.T. Wright’s book Surprised by Hope. He references the Lord’s Prayer often in his argument for earth being remade as the new heavens and the new earth. He hones in on the phrase “on earth as it is in heaven.” But I find myself getting mentally caught up in the size and emphasis of another request in the prayer.

Matthew 6:11 (ESV) Give us this day our daily bread.

Give me what I need to survive today – nothing more, nothing less. Manna for today. Strength for today. The ask seems so small and yet so vital – so reliant on God. There is so much trust built into this dependent ask – trust that He will provide for my needs and sustain me today and every day to come. Trust that I don’t need a whole week’s worth of bread because this isn’t a one time wish to be granted but a lifetime of daily bread. 

Matthew 6:34 (ESV) “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

We do not know how God will supply for our needs tomorrow but we are called to trust that He will. It might be through a miracle of manna and quail appearing on the ground each morning. It might be that our jar of oil never runs dry in our faithful service to the Lord, or it may be that we will get to eat a portion of the five loaves and two fish. God has a whole different miraculous playbook for our lives that we can’t fathom. 

While I have no idea what tomorrow holds, I know who holds my hand and I know He will keep my needs met.