2007-09-01 - The Prayers of Christ

#8 ~ The Lord's Prayer, cont'd.

"Give us this day our daily bread."

Please note that this Bible verse doesn't ask God to provide for us a lot of "things" that we can hoard (though He does sometimes choose to bless us materially), nor does His word promise that will be made wealthy, drive high-end cars, or own nice houses if we follow Him. Contrary to "prosperity preaching," there are no such guarantees in God's word, and that's not what Jesus had in mind when He offered us "abundant life."

We also need to remember that there is a huge difference between needs and desires. Sometimes He does sometimes fulfill our desires, but He always fulfills our needs - albeit on His timetable, not ours. When the Jewish people wandered in the desert for 40 years, God provided a special food called "manna," but it was distributed on a daily basis, and not for accumulation. In fact - if it was hoarded, it would deteriorate.

So is God stingy? Or did Christ have a purpose in wording the prayer that way? I believe that in both this prayer, as well as the manna incident, God is engendering dependence upon the Giver, and not the gifts. Sometimes when we have everything we need (and more) materially, we can coast along in life, and not think so much about our deepest need - our relationship with God. And in fact, Hosea warned us about that possibility:

Hosea 13:6 (NKJV) When they had pasture, they were filled; They were filled and their heart was exalted; Therefore they forgot Me

We need to be mindful of our daily dependence upon God - for not only food and shelter, but everything, for we would have nothing - even the air we breathe - without God.

Comments or Questions?
Jan

cfdevjan@aol.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org