Give Us Today Our Daily Bread

This is a continuation of the series, Meditations on the Lord’s Prayer. You can read the first post here.

“God surely gives daily bread without our asking, even to all the wicked, but we pray in this petition that he would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. Daily bread includes everything we need for our bodily welfare, such as food and drink, clothing and shoes, house and home, land and cattle, money and goods, a godly spouse, godly children, godly workers, godly and faithful leaders, good government, good weather, peace and order, health, a good name, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.”
(Luther’s Catechism, Northwestern Publishing House: Milwaukee, 2017, p. 267)

How incredible it is that God gives us our daily bread even without our asking because he is our kind and heavenly Father! Many children don’t have to ask their earthly parents for the food they need to survive—they just receive it.

(Note: this is not to say that children don’t tell their parents when they’re hungry. They do that—and often. They can exaggerate too. How many parents have heard a variation of the phrase “Can I have something to eat? I’m starving!” As for the food they need to stay alive . . . is receiving that ever a question in their young minds? Lord, I pray not.)

The same is true for you and me, dear Christian. Receiving what we need from our heavenly Father should never be a question in our minds.

God gives us everything we need—and often blesses us with far more! Stop and think for a moment. Count your blessings—if you can. My guess is that they’re like Abram’s promised descendants: as numerous as the stars in the night sky above or the sands upon the seashore. But I still encourage you to try!

I don’t know about you, but I’m not always mindful of all the things for which I can give God thanks and praise. I’d like to think I remember to thank him for the big things, like life and salvation in Jesus, but I know I can take those undeserved blessings for granted as well. And if I can forget those things, is it any wonder I often forget the little things too?

Yes, I often take God’s many gifts as a given. Other things I think I earn through my hard work. I grumble and complain that I’m hungry—starving even—and want more . . . when I’ve already got more than enough.

Lord, forgive me! Open my eyes to see the gifts you daily give: things I don’t see as gifts, things I take for granted until they’re gone, things I think I’ve earned for myself without recognizing that you are the one who gave me the ability to work for them in the first place!

Lord, forgive me! Help me echo the prayer of Solomon, “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread” (Provers 30:8, emphasis added). Teach me contentment and help me crush my covetous nature!

Is that not what we pray in the Fourth Petition?

Lead us, O God, to recognize all the gifts you give because of your Son, our Savior Jesus. Help us thank you for them—undeserved blessings that they are. Help us trust you. You will provide us with exactly what we need because you promise you will—so we can focus on praising you with our whole lives.

One final thought:

Martin Luther’s answer to what daily bread includes (above) is not exhaustive—as long as it is! (I get the sense that Luther could have kept going but blessedly cut himself short with the phrase “and the like.”)

But his lengthy list gets the point across, right?

We might not have everything aforementioned, but what we have . . . is not our own. What other people have is not their own either. It’s all God’s. He graciously gives so that we have opportunities to thank and praise him.

How? By using those gifts for God’s glory and serving others in love that reflects his own.

So we pray this petition with boldness and comfort and thanksgiving. Thank you, God!

Give us today our daily bread.

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