When my youngest son was about 5 years old, he remarked, “I don’t know for sure what heaven will be like, but I know there has to be bread there.” He said this while savoring a piece of hot, buttered French bread, fresh from the oven. I nodded, really hoping he was right about that one.
There’s something about bread…sourdough, croissants, biscuits, yeast rolls, bagels, cornbread, banana bread … fresh bread is a comfort food in a class of its own.
Ever had a piece of bread that appeared fresh, only to find out it was very very stale? Gross, right?
Sadly, fresh bread doesn’t stay fresh for very long.
Remember back in Exodus, after Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, through the Red Sea? God provided for them. He gave them a form of bread they named Manna. Every day this honey-sweetened wafer bread would fall from the sky, enough to feed more than a million mouths! The day before Sabbath, their day of rest and worship, they were instructed to collect a double portion. But the other 5 days they were to collect only enough manna for that 1 day. If they collected extra, Exodus 16 tells us, it would stink by the next morning and be full of maggots. Lovely. You learned quickly to follow God’s instructions.
What was God teaching his chosen nation? He was training them to trust him. They had been looking out for themselves, trusting no one else for the past 400 years. There’s not a lot of security when all you’ve known is a life of slavery. Instructing the people to gather food every day, but only a small and set amount, forced the Israelites to put their trust, all of their hope, in a God they were just getting acquainted with. Relying on themselves felt right. Relying on an invisible God seemed risky. Would he keep his word? Would he remember us? Would he forget or be late? Would he run out?—even just once? It took trust. It required obedience. It’s faith that God wanted.
Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God.
God didn’t want their confidence to lie in their ability or their abundance. He wanted them to want Him. God the Father wanted to sustain their every need, every single day.
Guess what? He hasn’t changed. When we pray, “Give us today our daily bread” it’s a reminder for us that we need to need Him—today, and every tomorrow. God, we need your presence, your spirit, your wisdom, your peace. Please give us what we need Lord, We need you, Lord.
Every
Single
Day
Donielle Winter