Our Daily Bread

It’s an amazing thing that God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, cares about you and me. Job wrote, “What are people, that you should make so much of us, that you should think of us so often?” (7:17 NLT).

Why would God care about you? Why would He care about me? I don’t know, but He does. He loves you. He loves me. And when we come to Him with a need, He’s interested. Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11 NKJV).

So when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” we’re in effect saying, “God, provide everything. Provide the needs that I have in life.”

When you ask someone to give you something, you’re acknowledging they own it. You’re also acknowledging that you need it. They don’t owe it to you, and you don’t deserve it. Notice this verse does not say, “Pay us this day our daily bread.” Rather, it says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” God doesn’t owe us anything. We are dependent on Him.

Not only does this prayer tell us to ask God for our daily needs, but it is also an affirmation that everything we have ultimately comes from Him. James 1:17 tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (NKJV).

Everything you have has been given to you by God. You may have worked hard or have been very clever in the way you’ve invested your money. But just remember that it still comes from God.