Give us this day our daily bread. Matt 6:11
This is the part of the Sermon on the Mount where
Jesus instructs us to pray for our needs. I would like to make three short
observations about asking the Lord to “Give us this day our daily
bread.”
1. We are told to ask. This point may sound simple, but some people
think that God does not want to be bothered by someone asking Him to meet their
needs. People reason that God has much larger issues to handle so He can’t be
bothered by their prayer requests. Or
for whatever the reason, some people just don’t ask. The bottom line is that
Jesus tells us to ask and if Jesus tells us to ask, we are to ask.
2. We are told to ask for our needs. Bread is a
need. You have needs, and you have plenty of them. Give them to God and believe
that He will meet them. A few years ago I needed wisdom in a big way. I came to
a decision, but I was a little hesitant to act on it. “What if I am making the
wrong choice?” I finally came to the
realization that I had asked God for wisdom. God promises to provide that
wisdom, so why did I not believe that He gave it to me. That is true about many or all of the needs
we ask God for. If He tells us to ask for our needs, He will meet our needs.
Ask and believe. A jobless Christian who asks the Lord to provide food for his
family should not worry if His children are going to go to bed hungry.
3. We are told to ask for our immediate needs. It is
not a mistake that Jesus said to ask for our “daily bread”. If you think Jesus
just kind of threw the word “daily” in there, keep reading Matthew 6. In verses
25-34 Jesus goes to great length to tell us not to worry about what we will
need tomorrow, but to trust God for our immediate needs and let tomorrow take
care of itself. You have needs today; pray for them, when tomorrow comes pray for
the needs that arise at that time.
The thing that hinders prayer the most is unbelief.
Jesus tells us to pray for the needs of today. He is not giving us an exercise
in futility. Instead of worrying about our needs, ask God for them. Believe He
will provide. He can be taken at His Word.
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