Give Us Today Our Daily Bread (Matthew 6:11)
Matthew 6:11 Give us today our daily bread.
This is part of “the LORD’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9 – 15), which Jesus taught us to pray.
Here, “bread” represents things necessary for the sustenance of life like food, clothing, health, civil peace and etc (Ursinus, Z., & Williard, G. W. (1888)).
We have to pray for “bread” not only to obtain them but also to be able to enjoy them.
It is God who enables us to enjoy them (Ecclesiastes 5:19). If God does not enable us to enjoy, we can’t enjoy what we own (Ecclesiastes 6:2). Some “bread” might be obtained apparently by our own labour, but we have to pray for it, and recognize God’s provision and His enablement for our enjoyment.
“daily bread” is bread as much as we need for each day to serve God and our neighbour. Note that Jesus said not “weekly” or “yearly”, but “daily”, restraining our raging and boundless desires (Ursinus, Z., & Williard, G. W. (1888)).
Now let us think about “today” in the prayer. This requires “trust” that God will give us “today”. “daily” and “today” two words in one sentence emphasize to live for today. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33-34 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
I realize God faithfully gave me daily bread - I got place to live and clothes. Just then, I had good dinner. I got my computer and desk and etc. All these facts touched my heart and I couldn’t help crying due to His grace and provision.
I think “our” in “our daily bread” means I should be in community and I should NOT leave any brother or sister to live in extreme poverty.
I realize that boundless desires make me never satisfied with the amount of work I do for a day. But when I focus on today and recognize God in my daily life, I am relieved from heavy burden.
Live THE MOST EXCITING LIFE IN JESUS, seeking His kingdom and His righteousness as the top priority instead of the stressful life worrying about tomorrow or future, totally leaving His mission aside.
The above choice is a matter of trust in God and His promise, shown in Matthew 6:33.
Now is the time to put down our covetousness and distrust, and obey God.
Bibliography
Ursinus, Z., & Williard, G. W. (1888). The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism. Cincinnati, OH: Elm Street Printing Company.
