Teach Us To Pray! Part 3

“Give us today our daily bread.“

Matthew 6:11

Holy Bible: Holman Christian Standard Version. 2009. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

We have here what Charles Spurgeon noted in his classic devotion Morning and Evening as “the heartfelt expression of dependence upon God”. Encapsulated in this plea, we hear the wholehearted reliance of the believer on God for sustenance and provision. We are reminded in the footnotes of our Bibles that the Greek here translated as “daily bread” can also be read as “our necessary bread [the bread of our necessity]”, or “our bread for tomorrow [the bread that suffices us each day]”. This bread is the food which continually serves to sustain our survival, both physically and spiritually.

Jesus reinforces His followers’ reliance on the proverbial wisdom of the Old Testament, recalling the prayer that we should receive “neither poverty nor wealth” but should be fed with the food we need (Pr. 30:8). God desires consistent conversation with His followers. He is a relational God, as is evidenced within His own triune nature. He is a God that desires community, not for His benefit but as a reflection of His own glory. In our prayers for the necessary, God is glorified in the display of His provision. When human needs are met, God is greatly magnified.

“As long as the disciples are on earth, they should not be ashamed to pray for their bodily needs. He who created men on earth will keep and preserve their bodies. It is not God’s will that his creation should be despised.“

(Bonhoeffer, pp. 166-167)

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Simon & Schuster Press, 1995.

The quote from Bonhoeffer calls immediately to mind Civilla D. Martin’s hymn His Eye Is on the Sparrow –

“Why should I feel discouraged?
Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart be lonely
And long for heaven and home
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.“

His Eye Is on the Sparrow, v. 1 written by Civilla D. Martin, 1866-1948

The inspiration for the hymn came from a quotation spoken off the lips of a certain Mrs. Doolittle, whose husband was –

“an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheelchair” (Morgan, p. 261).

Morgan, Robert J. Then Sings My Soul. Thomas Nelson, 2011.

As Christ personally spies the birds of the sky, we can be sure that He sees our actual, physical needs. Jesus’ model prayer brings us into remembrance of our dependence, in our entirety, upon God to supply for our needs. As Mrs. Doolittle and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer expressed, we can live our lives as first-hand witnesses to the suppliant hand of God’s grace and mercy to endure our lot in joy and sorrow, holding fast to the love of Jesus Christ even in the midst of affliction.

As we are to view the edible food on our tables as God’s provision for us, so are we to view the will to live from day to day as a gracious gift of God. It is God in His One and Only Son Jesus Christ that has granted us the gift of life in abundance through His work on the Cross (Eph. 2:8-10).

The table of breakfast lunch and dinner is thereby inseparably linked to the festive table of the Lord’s Supper (Heb. 9:15; 1 Co. 11:23-26). When we eat or drink we should do this in a way that gives God the glory, because He has made a way for us through the broken body of the Bread of Life that we might participate in eternal life (1 Co. 10:31; Jn. 6:35). No one who looks for God by ingesting the Bread of Life will ever hunger again. Jesus fills and fulfills completely.

“Daily needs and desires point beyond themselves, to God’s promise of the Kingdom in which death and sorrow will be no more. But that means, too, that the promise of the Kingdom includes those needs, and doesn’t look down on them sneeringly as somehow second-rate.“

(Wright, p. 27)

Wright, N. T. The Lord and His Prayer. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014.

We should never rule out the practical meeting of everyday needs. The provision of clothes, food, shelter, items for personal hygiene and modes of transportation are vital to the ministry of the Kingdom of God. God is not somehow above the “rude” needs of His people. He became a man. How much more “crass” could you get? The divine was made carnal, not sinful but mortal. The illimitable became limited or, moreover, limited Himself for our benefit. Jesus needed food, Jesus needed rest, Jesus needed a donkey ride, Jesus needed help bearing His cross.

Some may say that is sacrilegious. I say, that is the Gospel. Without a limited Christ, who held back all-power – even to the point of death – there would be no platform for the resurrection from the dead. As necessary as it was for Christ to die bodily once for all, so also is it necessary that Jesus-followers should care for their personal bodies and the bodies of others, especially those of the disenfranchised and dying.

“We pray, ‘Give it to us; not to me only, but to others in common with me.’ This teaches us charity, and a compassionate concern for the poor and needy. It intimates also, that we ought to pray with our families; we and our households eat together, and therefore ought to pray together.“

Henry, Matthew. “Commentary on Matthew 6.” Blue Letter Bible. 1 Mar, 1996. Web. 11 Feb, 2020.

It is a trial of our trust in God’s providence to gather for the day’s needs (Ex. 16). Our dependence on God is reflected in our prayer life. We are to depend on Him each day, that He would supply us our needs. This is a daily dependency. It should also cross our minds in prayer what we might do on behalf of others as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. Can I provide for someone else’s needs today? Our charity and compassion are also on trial in this prayer. Will we pray for the community?

Each time we gather around a table of food we have the opportunity to acknowledge the provider of the harvest. Each time we take a bite of some tasty morsel of crust we should reflect on the goodness of God’s grace and His ability to make a way for our life. We should think about what we would do on behalf of the less fortunate and those without. It is part of the food of God for that follower to do His will and intercede on behalf of those without. In our spirit we know that Christ intercedes on our behalf allowing us the opportunity to participate in God’s good work of providence in this world.

“Remember, God is as Great as He is Good!”

Noah R. Hunt