Matthew 6 : 9-16
New Living Translation (NLT)
9 Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may Your name be kept holy.
10 May Your Kingdom come soon.
May Your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today the food we need,
12 and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
13 And don’t let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.
Give us this day our daily bread... probably the most universally used and recognized statement from the Lord's prayer. There is a beauty to this statement that even as a petition, it is endearing to one's heart. It shows dependence on the Lord to the extent that no matter what earthly resources one might have at their disposal, we are confessing our trust and hope in God to keep us through and provide us our needs. This one statement shows utter submission, dependence, hope and trust in the Lord all at the same time. Yet the best part of this statement lies in one word - 'us'.
Most of us never realize it, but it is interesting that the Lord would teach us to pray saying Give us... and not give me. It made me wonder what the Lord meant by using 'us' and who this 'us' signifies. To start with we understand the fact that we are His and He is ours, for our sake (Jn. 15). Just like the beginning of the Lord's prayer where we start with Our Father... we recognize the fact that we offer our prayers to the God, the creator of the whole universe, of all that exists - the provider of all that has life on earth. So when we pray 'us' we are asking for the Lord's provision for the entire community of believers in our local church, all over the earth; as well as humankind in general. But what are we praying for? We are praying for His provisions today for all of us... lest we be tempted to be selfish.
Our Daily Bread
This phrase makes for an interesting study in itself. The word used in the greek texts for daily is epiousion. It is a very rare form that was not used in any other place than the gospels. This is because it has a special meaning. In regular greek parlance the word that would be used for daily is kath hemeran; bearing the meaning for that day or according to the day. But the word used in the Lord's prayer goes to signify a meaning of essential or more literally translated suprasubstantial. This is interesting, as it signifies then not just the physical, but also the spiritual.
The spiritual sense of this word can be understood in understanding Jesus calling Himself the bread of life (Jn. 6: 35). This is of course in remembrance of the Lord's death on the cross, us partaking of His body (bread) thus making us part of Him and His. This eucharistic bread sustains us in our walk with Him. We are therefore taught to pray asking for His divine grace to sustain us through the day; that we might walk with Him and for Him through our day. Rahner puts this beautifully in a prayer stating - "for only through You can I continue to be in myself with You, when I go out of myself to be with the things of the world." We thus recognize that we cannot even walk His path, leave alone live for Him if not for His sustenance and grace for us through the day. While this part of our prayer we offer for the believing community, we ask for the unbelievers that they would find His spiritual guidance to see the Lord Christ for who He is - thus continuing on with the theme of this whole prayer being a missionary prayer primarily.
The physical sense of this word can be understood in the light of the manna our God provided for the people of Israel as they walked through the wilderness for 40 years. It also can be understood in the light of the Lord feeding the 4000 and 5000 with just a few loaves and fish. Our Lord knows our every need even before we have spoken or asked for it (Mt. 6: 8) and therefore He asks us not to worry about what we will eat or wear (Mt. 6: 31-33). But in the only statement in this entire prayer which asks the Lord for His provisions, Christ made sure He taught us to pray not just for ourselves but the for the community of believers and the world at large. We are taught to pray that He would provide 'us' our needs and not just me, my measly self and my needs.
This changes the usual understanding with which we pray this line - to making the focus 'us' as humanity instead of i,me and myself. And this is a much needed prayer - for while 1/2 of the world feasts, overeats and wastes, the other 1/2 of the world starves and searches for food to eat. While 1/3 rd of the world spends money to lose weight from all the over eating, the other 2/3 rds of the world searches for money to meet their basic necessities.
We are offering a prayer of hope for those who have none. We are asking for the Lord's provision for all humankind alike that all would have their suprasubstantial needs met; have the bread they need for their physical bodies and find the Lord (if they don't already know Him) and His grace to keep them to enjoy life and life in abundance in and through Him and His Spirit (Jn. 10:20).
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
Putting it all together then, as we make this prayer; we are asking for God's provision for us. But the important thing to recognize is that we are taught to ask for His provision for today! Not tomorrow, not the day after or the years to come; but today.
This is important for us to understand in the light of what the Lord warns us in Mt. 6: 34 - "So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today." We are taught by the Lord to ask for His provisions to carry us through today alone. In the light of the way the Lord provided supernaturally for the Israelites as they crossed the wilderness for each day, the Lord asks us to trust Him to provide for us for that day alone. Why one might ask?
The answer is simple - we cannot use today's grace to get us through tomorrow challenges. Today represents challenges enough for us to truly walk the Christian high road. Tomorrow will bring our way a different set of challenges to deal with which we can only use the experience of the previous day but not the strength the Lord gave us to deal with those set of issues. This is so similar to the way in which the Lord grants us 86400 seconds each day as if depositing it into the account of our lives. We cannot reuse those seconds once the day has past us, neither can we borrow more seconds to last us through a day.
We truly have our plates full for today. And the Lord teaches us not to worry about our futures but to just trust in Him with every fiber in our body to get us through today; in such a way that we will truly glorify His name and be victorious Christians. For a large part of it is living and truly enjoying His will for our lives today.
How can we then apply this prayer to our lives?
2. It's always 'Us': When we pray for His will and provisions, let us remember that we were not created to be selfish - that attitude comes from our fall. Too often we forget to pray for the needs of those around us, even becoming insensitive to a certain extent to what our brothers and sisters are going through. I couldn't have realized this more when my wife underwent a surgery recently and i was waiting outside the operation theater looking at the concerned faces of all those waiting with me in the same lounge; anxious about their loved ones being cut open. The Lord sometimes takes us through situations that we might be more sensitive to the needs of those we meet or know, going through similar situations. How often have we paused to pray for them whether they are Christian or not, offer a word of comfort and encouragement? Do we make time to look beyond our own lives? Lets remember the Lord taught us to pray saying "Give US this day OUR daily bread..."
3. His grace to live for Him: We too often overlook the fact that we cannot even breathe if He didn't choose to give us breath. Our being is in Him and as such as spiritual well-bring ought to be rooted in Him. Satan is out to get us like a lion (1 Pet. 5:8); and it is only God's grace that can enable us to overcome our selfish selves and live as unto Him. Our Daily Bread includes the spiritual. If we choose not to acknowledge this part of His bread of life for us; it is but our loss. Did you pray for grace to live for Him today?
May the Lord give us this day our daily bread!
