Daily Devotional For Thursday, October 17, 2024
Good morning. The weekend is almost here. If you have been reading these daily devotionals, you know we are making our way through Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount, which is found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. We have finished looking at Matthew 5, and we are now in Matthew 6, specifically looking at what is traditionally called The Lord’s Prayer. Many scholars prefer to call this prayer The Disciples’ Prayer, since Jesus gave it to His disciples as a model of how to pray. Today, we come to the part in this prayer where there is transition. In Matthew 6:9-10, the focus and emphasis is on God and in Matthew 6:11-13, the focus transitions to our needs and wants.
Look at Matthew 6:11, “Give us this day our daily bread” (NASB). To those in the first century Roman world, bread was a necessity. Many did not have bread or the necessary food to survive. To those of us living in this western civilization, the problem is not enough bread, but many times too much bread. With our pantries, refrigerators, grocery stores, restaurants and local markets full of food, we may wonder why we need to pray for our daily bread when it is already too easily available to us.
As with each line in this prayer, it transcends centuries, continents and circumstances. There are people around the world who starve to death every day. According to the United Nations, as many as 25,000 die everyday due to starvation (Source: https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/losing-25000-hunger-every-day. This number would include Christians in countries around the world.
The Greek New Testament word Jesus uses for “bread” is [ἄρτος, artos]. In Jesus’ day, bread did not only refer to literal bread but was symbolic of all physical needs. Pastor and author John Stott writes this: “Everything necessary for the preservation of this life is bread, including food, a healthy body, good weather, house, home, wife, children, good government, and peace” (Source: John Stott, Christian Counterculture: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, p. 149). To me it is amazing how big, how powerful, how holy, how righteous and how infinite our God is that He would be concerned about helping us with our physical needs.
Jesus reminds us here using “bread” in both a literal sense and a symbolic sense that God is concerned about all our physical needs: food, clothing, and our health. That God obligates Himself to help us sinful people is amazing to me. We see in this part of this prayer that this line in it is both a petition and an affirmation. This line in this prayer reminds us of James 1:17, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (NASB).
Unless we get the big head and think it is our jobs and income that provides our bread, Jesus reminds us that it is “Our Father who art in heaven” that does all of this for us. We would not be able to work or earn the income we do without the reality of James 1:17 in our lives. All our skills, talents, abilities, intellect… etc…. come from God. This means that the hardest-working person owes everything they have to God our Father. Moses reminded the Hebrews of this in Deuteronomy 8:18, “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (NASB). This means every resource we have at our disposal today comes to us from our Father who art in heaven. Luke reminds us of this in the book of Acts. Look at Acts 17:24-28:
“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; (25) nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; (26) and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, (27) that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; (28) for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children” (NASB).
We see God’s provision for our needs is seen even from the beginning of creation in the Garden of Eden. God created Adam and Eve and He said this to them in Genesis 1:29, “Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you” (NASB). This lets us know that there was an abundance of food available to Adam and Eve unlike anytime in history, including our history. Every physical thing we have comes from God’s provision through the earth. It is therefore the sin of indifference and ingratitude not to daily recognize His gifts in thankful prayer.
When we come to Matthew 6:11-13, we come to verses Bible scholars call verses of supplication. “Supplication” is where one party humbly asks another party to provide something, either for the party who is doing the supplicating. Notice the emphasis on “humbly.” We ask humbly God to give us our daily bread because He can and will. This means we still do it even if He already has given it to us. What validates our request for God to do this is the promise from Jesus that God will do it. David reminds us how humility plays a role in our requests to God. Look at Psalm 37:3-4, 10-11:
“Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. (4) Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart . . . (10) Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. (11) But the humble will inherit the land, And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity” (NASB).
Now contrary to a cultural misunderstanding and misinterpretation, God does not oblige Himself to meet the needs of everyone, but only those who trust in Him. That is David’s point in the Psalms passage above. Jesus gave this model prayer to His disciples and future disciples, not to non-disciples. Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us our daily bread.” The “us” refer to those who belong to Him. This is Paul’s point in 2 Corinthians 9:10-11:
“Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; (11) you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God” (NASB).
Jesus told us God will supply all our needs (see Philippians 4:19). In Luke 18:29-30, Jesus gave us this promise:
“And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, (30) who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life” (NASB).
We see without doubt that God promises and commits Himself to meeting the physical needs of those who belong to Him just like He provided for the Hebrews after He got them out of Egypt. One of the reasons there is famine around the world is not necessarily due to a lack of technology, resources, over population or scientific ingenuity.
It is estimated that only 15% of the arable land all over the world is ever used. agriculturally and even then, only for half of each year. Yes famines do come. Yes, natural disasters do come, but governments that are more committed to caring and protecting its citizens have the means today to deal with famine and keep people from starving to death.
My concern for our country today is the amount of land our US government is allowing our enemies to buy in America. It is estimated that China alone owns 384,000 acres of land in the US (Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywashburn/2023/03/01/how-much-us-farmland-does-china-really-own-more-than-bill-gates-and-less-than-17-other-countries/.) Most countries have laws that forbid outsiders or other governments from buying land in their own country and for good reason. Does anyone really think that China is buying pristine farm land for America's good? This article in Forbes list other 10 other countries as well as wealthy individuals in America who own a lot of farm land, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates (240,000 acres) and Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos (420,000 acres).
When we look at the poorest countries where people starve to death, many of these people die because there is little, or no Christian roots there. The poverty in India, for example, may be laid at the feet of Hinduism, the pagan religion that spawned a host of other religions. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica and Eerdman’s Handbook to the World’s Religions, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism come from Hinduism. Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, and Taoism do not. Where Christians live, they live out Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 25:31-46. Christians know that every person is created in God’s image and as Jesus reminds us that when we feed, or clothe or give water to, or take in strangers, or visit those in prison, we are meeting their needs and it is the same as doing this for our Lord.
Pastor and author John MacArthur reminds us of this when he writes this:
“To the Hindu, man is but the incarnation of a soul on its way to moksha, a kind of “final emancipation,” during which trip he goes through countless, perhaps unending, cycles of reincarnation in both animal and human form. He works his way up to higher forms by good deeds and regresses to lower forms by sinning. Poverty, disease, and starvation are therefore seen as divine punishments for which the persons involved must do penance in order to be born into a higher form. To help a person in poverty or sickness is to interfere with his karma and therefore do him spiritual harm” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 390). (For a discussion of moksha, or moksa, see Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropaedia, VI, p. 972; for a more general discussion, see Encyclopaedia Britannica, Macropaedia, vol. 8, pp. 888–908. Consult, also, Eerdman’s Handbook to World Religions [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982].)
“All animals are considered to be incarnations either of men or deities. Cows are held to be especially sacred because they are incarnated deities—of which Hinduism has some 330 million. Cows not only are not to be eaten but add to the food problem by consuming 20% of India’s total food supply. Even rats and mice, which eat 15 percent of the food supply, are not killed because they might be one’s reincarnated relatives.”
“Just as paganism is the great plague of India, Africa, and many other parts of the world, Christianity has been the blessing of the West. Europe and the United States, though never fully Christian in any biblical sense, have been immeasurably blessed because of the Christian influence on political, social, and economic philosophy and policy. The great concerns for human rights, care for the poor, orphanages, hospitals, prison reform, racial and slave reform, and a host of other concerns did not come from paganism or humanism but from biblical Christianity. On the other hand, the current degraded view of human life reflected in the low view of the family and growing legal and social approval of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia are the legacy of humanism and practical atheism” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 390).
Without a proper view of God there cannot be a proper view of man. Those who have a right view of God and also a right relationship to Him through Jesus Christ are promised the provision of their heavenly Father. Look at Matthew 6:25, 32-33:
““For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? . . . (32) For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. (33) But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (NASB).
There are times God provides for the physical needs of His people through miracles, but most of the time He does so through work, for which He has given to us the abilities, skills, talents, education, life and energy to do this. And to those who are unable to work, God provides for them through the generosity of His people. Whether it is directly or indirectly, God provides for the needs of the disciples of Jesus Christ.
One final thought, we are commanded to ask for our needs daily. “Give us this day our daily bread” (NASB). The point Jesus makes is that we are to depend daily on the Lord, not just in a crisis or on Sundays or in our community group or small group. To accept the Lord’s provision for the present day, without concern for our needs or welfare tomorrow, is a testimony of our contentment in His goodness and faithfulness.
I conclude with the words from New Testament scholar Leroy Lawson:
“Matthew’s version uses the aorist tense, dos, “give in one act.” Luke uses the present, didou, “be giving, give continually” (Luke 11:3). Someone has suggested that Matthew touches the readiness, and Luke the steadiness, of God’s giving. Matthew’s verb translates, “Give us this day,” and Luke’s, “Give us each day.” Either way, we rely upon God one day at a time, neither worrying nor hoarding for tomorrow, like the Israelites depending daily on just one day’s manna from Heaven . . . (Exodus 16) . . . As we are fellow recipients of God’s grace, so we concern ourselves with one another’s welfare. We need God, and we need each other. Almost always, God answers our prayers for daily bread through other people. We cannot eat without farmers, transporters, processors, and merchants. We cannot build without loggers or oilmen, laborers, truckdrivers, electricians, plumbers, and, unfortunately, tax assessors. Since we depend upon cooperative effort for our livelihoods and meals, we always pray with others in mind” – (Source: Leroy Lawson, Unlocking The Scriptures For You, “Matthew,” pp. 93-94).
This means we cannot just live for today only. We must also pray about the future “daily bread” we will need and we must pray for God to use us to meet the daily physical needs of others.
Questions To Consider
- As a disciple of Jesus Christ, has it been your experience that God provides for your daily needs? If so, how?
- Do you give God credit in thanking Him daily for all your skills, abilities, intellect, education, talents, experiences and opportunities to earn income to buy things that meet your daily needs? Why or why not?
- When you come to God daily for your needs, do you come humbly or do you just “strut right up to the throne of God” and throw out your requests? Why or why not?
- Where Christians and Christianity have roots, those disciples of Jesus Christ do everything they can to meet the needs of those in need as Jesus commanded. Does this consistently describe you? Why or why not?
- What daily needs are you currently depending on the Lord to meet in your life? As I told you a few weeks ago in a sermon, a delay is not necessarily a denial. If there is a delay, why do you think that it is so?
Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 30:8-9, “Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, (9) That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, thank You for providing for my daily needs through the skills, talents, abilities, experiences, education and opportunities You have given me. Please forgive me for taking credit for what You have done and continue to do. Convict me to meet a need for another so that it helps me to realize that when I do this for anyone, it is the same as doing it to You. Help me to come humbly to You as the lone provider for all my daily needs. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly