Solid Ground - Ep 21 - Fourth Petition

Solid Ground - Faith & Family

Dave RueterJuly 21, 2022The Lord's Prayer, Catechism

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Passage: Psalms 145:15-16

Fourth Petition

Downloadable Reflection Guide

What does this mean? 

God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.
What is meant by daily bread? Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

With our full refrigerators and pantries, it might be hard to fully conceptualize what daily bread is all about. After having been led out of Egypt by the Lord, the people of Israel received direct instruction on what daily bread and trusting in God for their provision was all about. As seemed to happen often (not that we are exempt today), the people grumbled to Moses that they did not have food to eat. God must have brought them out to the desert to die, why couldn’t He have left them in Egypt where at least they had food to eat. Sure they were slaves, but they had full bellies.

God in His abiding patience provide mana, a light flakey bread that appeared each morning with the dew. The people were to collect only what they needed for the day. If they failed to trust God and collected more than needed for their daily bread, the excess was found to be rotten by morning. God was really trying hard to teach His people to trust in His gracious provision.

Our default position, reinforced by much of our life experience, is that we need to look out for ourselves. Yet, when we do this, we forget all the ways in which God actually does provide for us. The Psalmist notes in Psalm 145:15-16 that “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand;
you satisfy the desire of every living thing.” Through the vocations of the community around us, God provides for us all.

Thoughts for Reflection

Today give some consideration to how God provides for you in many wonderful ways. 

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