The Sunday News
Rev Paul Damasane Talking Spirituality
“THY will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” is the recognition that God deserves all honour and glory. It expresses recognition that God’s is always the right direction to follow, no matter the circumstances in which we as human beings find ourselves. Proverbs 3: 5-6 is an excellent guideline for us to follow in this regard. That is where we ended last week and we continue today on the work of God here on earth. So far we have looked at the first three of the petitions that make the Lord’s Prayer. These addressed the Almighty as you have clearly seen in the first few lines of today.
“Give us this day our daily bread” is the fourth of the seven petitions in the Lord’s Prayer the first three address God, the second four are prayers related to our needs and concerns. In the Lord’s Prayer, the first human petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbour on an empty stomach. That is where the issue is.
Give us this day our daily bread. Because our natural being is necessary to our spiritual well-being in this world, therefore, after the things of God’s glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the necessary supports and comforts of this present life, which are the gifts of God, and must be asked of him. We need bread for the day approaching, for all the remainder of our lives. Bread for the time to come, or bread for our being and subsistence, that which is agreeable to our condition in the world (Pr 30: 8), food convenient for us and our families, according to our rank and station.
We do so because in heaven, which is our identity, there are no needs or shortages. Hunger and poverty are not from heaven. This is the portion where we confront shortage and poverty and all. We should not be afraid because that is what he has taught us to say when we pray.
Why should we ask for bread and not meat as others would have it? We ask for bread because it teaches us sobriety and temperance; we ask for bread, not dainties, not superfluities; that which is wholesome, though it be not nice. Yes bread does mean more but the image of bread is the simplicity of our needs.
We ask for our bread; that teaches us honesty and industry: we do not ask for the bread out of other people’s mouths, not the bread of deceit (Pr 20: 17), not the bread of idleness (Pr 31: 27), but the bread honestly gotten. We ask for bread because it is also that which we work and toil for. Our prosperity is not going to be purely miraculous but will be the blessing of the work of our hands. It is coming from the honest hard work we engage in.
We ask for our daily bread; which teaches us not to take thought for the morrow (Mt 6: 34), but constantly to depend upon divine Providence, as those that live from hand to mouth. It is daily bread because God is cognisant of our daily needs and therefore prepares us for the coming future. (Prov 30: 8, Is 33: 16)
The word bread here denotes, doubtless, everything necessary to sustain life, (Mt 4: 4, Deut 8: 3). This petition implies our dependence on God for the supply of our wants.
As we are dependent on him one day as much as another, it was evidently the intention of our Saviour that prayer should be offered every day. This is, moreover, expressed in the plural number – give us. It is evidently, therefore, intended to be used by more than one, or by some community of people. No community or congregation can meet every day for worship but families. It is therefore evident that this prayer is a strong implied command for daily family prayer. It can nowhere else be used so as fully to come up to the meaning of the original intention; and nowhere else can it be breathed forth with so much propriety and beauty as from the lips of a father, the venerable priest of his household, and the pleader with God for those rich blessings which a parental bosom desires on his beloved offspring.
One of my great joys in life is found at the pivotal point a profound truth strikes home more than once something has struck me while driving alone and then I have to let loose a shout of praise!
The profound spiritual truth of the Lord’s Prayer was such a moment. I finally realised Jesus Christ is the “bread of life” and the daily bread we need even more than physical food (John 6:51)! We are to live each day with Christ dwelling in us (John 17: 23). This was the source of Paul’s strength as he wrote in 1 Corinthians 3: 16 and Philippians 4:13.
It was a joy to realise the deeper meaning of the phrase “Give us this day.” Of course, Jesus Christ did ask a blessing as He was breaking bread for a meal (Luke 9:16). It is correct to ask for our daily provisions and to ask God to bless them. My joy came in recognising the deeper importance of Jesus Christ being the daily bread we truly need.
In Luke 4: 3-4 we can read about the confrontation Jesus had with Satan. Satan told Jesus to change the stone into bread, but Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” He was referring, of course, to needing spiritual sustenance more than physical bread. God’s truth, God’s Word, is spiritual (John 6:63). It provides the “food” we need to be spiritually sound.
In Luke 12: 23, Jesus once again used the example of eating to show the primary need we have is spiritual. He said, “Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.” Some would make the mistake of discounting food altogether. That is the far side of the ditch; we are physical, and God knows we need physical sustenance. It is in the comparison of the eternal with the temporary that we must realise how much more important the presence of Jesus Christ is in our lives than even our physical food. God expects us to work hard to procure our daily food — there are lessons in that. He expects us to work much harder to procure our spiritual food, and we need to see the value in that. A half-hearted attempt will fail.
We beg of God to give it us, not sell it us, nor lend it us, but give it. The greatest of men must be beholden to the mercy of God for their daily bread. We ask the benevolence of the Almighty all the time and not see ourselves as complete of ourselves. We need his daily intervention. Say it with the children at home to make them realise that the money does not come from daddy or mummy but these are just vessels used by God.
We pray, “Give it to us; not to me only, but to others in common with me.” This teaches us charity, and a compassionate concern for the poor and needy. It intimates also, that we ought to pray with our families; we and our households eat together, and therefore ought to pray together. This prayer is not a selfish moment with God. No! it is a time for us to remember others as well. When he gives this bread it is not for you alone but there are others as well you need to think of.
We pray that God would give us this day; which teaches us to renew the desire of our souls towards God, as the wants of our bodies are renewed; as duly as the day comes, we must pray to our heavenly Father, and reckon we could as well go a day without meat, as without prayer. I could go on and on but this is enough bread for the day.
Suffice to say let God be your provider all the time. Shalom!
