Daily Bread

The longer you are a Christian, the easier it gets to feel like you have stored up wisdom and knowledge for every situation.  It’s easy, when facing a new mountain or valley, to feel like you don’t need to seek God about it, because you’ve already trusted Him before and learned that lesson.

One thing that God has really been speaking to my heart about lately is “daily bread”.  For Jesus to put that in His prayer prototype (the Lord’s prayer, Jesus’ example of how we should pray), it’s gotta be significant.  I just always took it as “give us what we need”; & missed the emphasis on today.

When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, deliverance had come!  But in what form?  They were a million strong and walking through a desert.  Not a land of plenty, but a desert.  God provided for them, but not in an outpouring that left them with more than enough for the future.  He gave them plenty for that day.  If they tried to save it for tomorrow, it would rot.  God knows our human nature, and if we have what we need, we forget Him.  He wanted the Israelites to have to rely on Him daily for their food, for their LIVES.

There are people in the world who are trusting God for food daily, but most who will read this will not be.  Most of us have a hard time turning to God even for the big situations in our lives, let alone crying out to Him daily for our lives.  God wants to give us our “daily bread”, and too often we’d rather scrounge for crumbs of what He gave us yesterday, or last month, or last year, than to seek Him again.  I don’t know why we do it... I don’t even know why I do it.  I do know that it’s something that I’ve been made aware of in my life.  Seeking God for TODAY, and living off of what He’s given me fresh for TODAY.

God really desires a daily relationship.  We can’t pray or worship on Sundays enough for Him to be content for the week.  It wouldn’t matter how great of a date night Alex and I had on a weekend; if for the rest of the week he ignored me, I would feel like our relationship was failing.  God doesn’t give us “daily” bread because He’s not sure if He wants us to be fed tomorrow, but because He insists on having a daily relationship with us.  I don’t know why we are intimidated by that, why we’d rather “save up”... I guess cause the idea of continually having to trust God for what we need can seem exhausting.  We want to KNOW that it’s all taken care of.  That’s where faith comes in.  “Give us this day our daily bread” is not in the prayer to remind God that we need Him, but to remind us.  The asking is for us, not for Him.

For me, in action, I’m trying to apply this by looking to God for insight daily.  As anyone in my life knows, I’m in a season where I’m trusting God for big things, but I’m working to trust Him for my “bread” (encouragement, insight, revelation, strength, peace, joy... healing) DAILY.  I think it’s something we all could learn, and continue learning.  Trust God  today for what you need today.  Thank Him for all He’s already done, but don’t live off of yesterday’s bread.