July 25, 2014
Matthew 6:9-13
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
The Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9 through 13:
In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your
name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive
our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the
evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever.
Amen.
We now come to a statement with which we all identify:
• Verse 11 – “Give us this day our daily bread.” We all need daily nourishment, and it all comes from God whether we recognize that fact or not. There are three passages in the Psalms that speak to this issue – two by David and one anonymous:
Psalm 103:5 – The Lord “…satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Psalm 107:9 – “…He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.”
Psalm 145:15 and 16 – “The eyes of all look expectantly to You; and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”
Israel’s history shouts the same truth. For 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness of the Sinai peninsula – because they did not believe in God and His power to overcome their enemies as He led them into the Promised Land of Canaan But God did not forsake them, even in His chastisement. Moses said in Deuteronomy 8:3 and 4:
…He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you
did not know nor did your fathers know; that He might make you know that
man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of the LORD. Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did
your foot swell these forty years.
Jesus expanded on the subject in Matthew 6:25 and 26:
Do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor
about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the
body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow
nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are
you not of much more value than they?
It all comes from God! But in The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus is telling us to think far beyond the food – the “…daily bread…” we eat! I am reminded of one of my favorite scriptures – Deuteronomy 33:25: “As your days, so shall your strength be.” The idea – as Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19, is that “…my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus…” – God will give us what we need for every situation we face, whether it be physical, material, mental, emotional, spiritual or relational!
And we dare not miss the truth Jesus applied to Himself, summarized in John 6:35, 51, and 53 through 55:
I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who
believes in Me shall never thirst….I am the living bread which came down
from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread
that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world….Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My
blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is
food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
Here is our biggest need – our spiritual need! And it is fully satisfied by the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ! We are eternal beings! And we will spend eternity someplace – either heaven or hell! What we do here determines our destiny. If we accept God’s provision of His Son, we have eternal life! If we reject that heavenly food and drink, we will experience eternal death!
So thank God for His provision – realizing He has already provided! “Give us this day our daily bread…” is not so much a plea to open the reluctant hand of God. It is more a plea for Him to help us consume what He has already given!