“Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11)

When Jesus was teaching His disciples about prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, He was showing them not only how to pray but also how to live. He wanted His disciples to live every day in absolute trust and reliance upon Him to provide for all they needed. Today, He speaks the same thing to us.  Trust Him for daily bread… that everything we need for today will be provided.  But do we truly wish to live this way? Do we have enough faith to live day-by-day believing our Lord for our provision and for the things we need to live? The Lord is not against savings and being prosperous and He does not want us to be in lack. But He surely does not want us to depend on these things for our security and our stability. Jesus is our security and our stability. When He “is” our daily bread we will “have” daily bread.

The wisdom of Proverbs shows us how to live, as we believe for daily bread. Proverbs 30:8-9 speaks of a humble and simple life that puts Jesus as the centerpiece of our life and whether rich or poor we would desire Him more. “… give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise I may have too much and disown you and say who is the Lord? Or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my God.” Agur, the writer here, is simply asking for daily bread and not for riches and not to be impoverished. He does not want to be rich that He might get lost in His blessings and forget about God… nor does He wish to be poor in case his needs cause him to steal and then offends and dishonors His God. He wants God more!

How many times have we seen someone pray in a time of need and God prospers them and blesses them and then they forget about God and are solely focused on the blessing? How many times has desperate need driven some to take what is not theirs in order to have?

Simplicity is a blessing… simplicity without fear or apprehension is a simplicity that trusts God for all that we need, not all that we want (that would not be a blessing), but for all that we need… daily and everyday. He assures us by His Holy Word that he would provide for us daily.

Can we pray Agur’s prayer today? “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread”… Give me Jesus! When you have the peace and hope that is in Jesus Christ, you have all you need… every single day! Live simply!