Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11
My son graduates from high school in just a few short months. Since becoming a senior, it seems the first question everyone asks him is, “What are your plans after you graduate?”.
As parents, teachers, church leaders, or loved ones, we often insist that the teenagers in our lives plan for their future. We caution them to think of possible consequences down the road when making decisions. We encourage them to pursue education and vocational training as preparation for their future career. We want them to lay a foundation for marriage and to one day build a family.
When I graduated from high school, I planned to be the first person in my family to graduate from college. As a freshman in college, I planned to marry the UGA football player I was dating. I was studying to be a teacher so I could spend the summers at home with our children.
While I did graduate from college, it took me an extra year because I changed my major more than once, I was single, and I felt lost. As a result, I’ve always told my son that I don't expect him to have life after high school completely mapped out. I know thoughtful planning and preparation are key to a rewarding future, but we do not live in the future - we live in the present.
In Jesus’ model prayer, he asks for bread for “this day.” When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for forty years, they received manna to eat every morning. Through Moses, God instructed each person to gather as much as they needed - and they would only receive what they needed, regardless of whether they gathered much or little (Exodus 16:17-18). But it was not to be kept until morning. If it was, it became full of maggots and began to stink (16:20). The only exception to this rule was on the sixth day when the Israelites were told to gather twice as much manna so they could rest on the Sabbath.
In the beginning, despite Moses’s specific instructions, some tried to gather more than enough for one day and store the balance. Some could not believe without seeing, and they went looking for manna on the Sabbath. By providing daily, one day at a time, God was trying to teach them faith. He was teaching them to trust Him.
Obviously, Jesus was not telling His disciples to pray only for bread. As He does so often, He takes physical things to help teach spiritual truths. In John 6, Jesus takes what we know to make himself, the Bread of Life, known to us.
The day after Jesus fed the 5,000 with two fish and five loaves of bread, the crowd realized
that He and his disciples were gone so they got in the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from
heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:25-35)
It’s hard for us to imagine, but the Israelites would spend their entire day trying to get food. We live in a world where many people know what it’s like to have all they need to eat each day. We actually have a thriving diet industry, so we will limit what we eat. Yet, we still aren’t satisfied. We go to the physical world trying to find what can only be provided from spiritual satisfaction. The Israelites were seeking Jesus, but they were so focused on wanting more bread that they missed their Savior. I know I’m guilty at times of praying and asking for the physical more than the spiritual.
The lyrics from Natalie Grant’s song “More Than Anything” say it beautifully.
Help me want the Healer
More than the healing
Help me want the Savior
More than the saving
Help me want the Giver
More than the giving
Oh, help me want You, Jesus
More than anything
Though the plans I had for myself as a graduate didn’t come to fruition, I am grateful that through the struggles and heartaches, I learned that I have to turn to God for help each day. I learned that He will provide everything I need to be satisfied. We should seek Him daily, to do His will each day, to become one with Him as He is one with the Father (John 17:20–23).
As my son prepares to graduate from high school, I pray he trusts that knowing Jesus is far better than knowing his future plans. I pray he will learn that manna from Heaven can be as real as the physical manna in the wilderness, and he can have complete faith in the Lord to provide everything he needs as he walks with Him daily.
It is day by day that we work out our plans for the future and we achieve our goals. It is one day at a time that we raise and nurture our families. We run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2) one day at a time.
And so we pray, Give us this day our daily bread.
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