A Lifetime Supply of Bread

Give us this day our daily bread.

via Replacements, Ltd.

I'm guessing you know that this is from the Bible. In fact, since most of my readers are friends who got bored on facebook and accidentally clicked on the link landing here, you're probably definitely from the Bible belt. Which means that you have The Lord's Prayer either cross-stitched on a pillow or next to a picture of a little blonde-haired androgynous Precious Moments toddler kneeling beside a bed on a ceramic picture frame.

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But I think we often miss the significance of this prayer because we've heard it so much. Context: The disciples ask Jesus how to teach them how to pray, and Jesus absolutely rocks their world with a lot of the stuff that goes down in the Lord's Prayer. But for now, I want us to really think about what it means to pray for daily bread.

It's easy to become overwhelmed and daunted by the road that lies before us. Especially when I'm struggling - all I can think about is how hard things will be in the future. How I might fail again. How much it's going to hurt if this or that happens.

Truth be told, sometimes it's all one can do to get through today; tomorrow's too much to think about.

So instead of worrying about tomorrow's failures/blessings/struggles/heartbreaks/challenges, focus on today.   No one ever prays for a lifetime supply of bread. You know why? Because that's not what Jesus tells us to do - He prayed for daily bread - just enough to get through this day.

And this isn't just New Testament stuff. It's pretty Old School too. Go check out Exodus 16. God literally rained down food from heaven for His Israelites. Every morning they would go gather enough for that day. However, when they began to get greedy, when they began to worry about tomorrow's portion, when they began to overgather - the food spoiled and was garnished with maggots.

Get it? The God who provided for you today, will He not provide for you tomorrow? Do not worry about tomorrow, for each day has enough goin' on. (Matthew 6:34 - bRob parahprase). That's part of faith.

You may not know how you're going to handle something in the future. You may be scared as all get-out about what comes next. Maybe you barely have the strength to deal with your current situation. But the Lord's made it clear that for right now, you just need to get through today.

Pray for the strength, grace, and courage for this day's trials. And do it again tomorrow. And that's how we'll get through - not by freaking out about the future, but by glorifying God in how we handle today.


I can't decide whether or not taking it one day at a time is a relief or a challenge. I think it's both.

-bRob