What’s for Dinner
Yesterday I had one of those classic parent moments. The kids came up to me and said they were ready for lunch. No sooner had I offered them lunch, then I was met with “I don’t like that” by the youngest. The compromise was met with “I don’t like that” from the oldest. Change after change, suggestion after suggestion…nothing was acceptable. What could they agree on…ice cream. But as good as that sounds, ice cream is not an acceptable lunch. Believe me, I want it to be, but that is not. So what is a Father to do? I listened, I knew what was good for them and what wasn’t, and I fed my children.
Have you ever thought about what it means when we pray “give us this day our daily bread?”
When we ask God for our daily bread we are reminding ourselves that God will meet our need.
Some days that will be a simple sandwich.
Some days that means we need to eat our vegetables.
Some days that means we get ice cream.
Some days we are sent to bed without dessert.
This simple line reminds us that we need to come to God. We need to be dependent on God, and we need to ask Him to provide us what we need.
Why is this important?
Because our pride often gets in the way. For example look at Deuteronomy 9, starting at verse 4.
The people are about to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land, a land flowing with blessings.
God says:
“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land….”
Read a little further and God will tell you that they were going into the Promised Land because God is faithful to His promises, even when His people are not always faithful to Him. What is God looking for? Confession and Repentance, and then Trust. This petition about giving us what we need everyday is a reminder that when we come to the Lord.
A Father loves his children, and he knows what they need to grow and be healthy
Your Heavenly Father knows what you need as well. I want to encourage you today not to see where you are lacking, but instead to see all that God has provided. And God has given you today, now trust Him to fill it.