Give us today our daily bread.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Sadly, Jesus’ next prayer request is often misunderstood and misinterpreted, and completely misses the point. 

As western, non-Jewish-thinking people, we are conditioned to focus on ourselves and our needs first. Why would Jesus teach His disciples to ask for their “daily bread” when He had just taught them that the Father knows their needs before they ask Him? Would He be so foolish as to contradict Himself almost in the same breath? 

Let’s think “Hebrew” to understand Jesus’ intention. 

Bread was, for Jewish readers, a symbolic reminder of two things…God’s “bread from heaven” provided in the wilderness and the weekly “Bread of the Presence” set out in the Tabernacle. Bread symbolised God’s provision of nourishment as they moved through the terrain that offered them nothing. God, as their provider, acted supernaturally for them during their forty years of wandering. 

Jesus Himself interpreted this event, after He had miraculously fed five thousand people…

“So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

‭‭John‬ ‭6‬:‭30‬-‭35‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As always, Jesus infused the natural with spiritual truth.  Would it not be reasonable to think that He was referring to Himself in that request…”Give us today our daily bread”? If the Father supplies our needs because He is a faithful and loving Father, why would we need to ask Him for bread whenever we pray?

Surely, in keeping with Jesus’ focus on God’s kingdom, we need to be fed daily, with the “bread of God” that has come down from heaven! In a world of deception and distractions, our attention must be drawn back to the one who is our source, the one who gives us life and is our life. 

Jesus urges us…

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It is only through the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit in us that we can stay in constant contact and communion with our source of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.””

‭‭John‬ ‭16‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So, as we pray, 

“Give us today our daily bread…”

…we are asking the Father to nourish our spirits, daily, with Jesus, the bread of life, without which we would starve to death.