There were moments in my life when I learnt how simple yet profoundly true and effective Matthew 6:11 is. God taught me lessons that will always remain with me as long as I walk the face of this earth.
You see, the prayer of Jesus in Matthew 6:11 (Give us today our daily bread) borrows from what God did in the wilderness. A look at how God fed His people on their way to Canaan explains what Jesus was teaching. God gave the people of Israel daily manna with certain instructions.
One of such instructions is found in Exodus 16:16. We see God asking the Israelites to take the much that is sufficient for them for the day, nothing more. It was to be eaten that day without leftovers. Those who disobeyed Him by taking more to keep at home overnight only had worms and putrefaction the next day. By doing that, they displayed disobedience, lack of understanding of the wilderness weather conditions and more importantly, lack of faith in God who supplied all that they needed for each day.
Freshly prepared heavenly meal
God desires that we look up to Him daily for our needs, not because he wants us to be his slaves and beggars, but because he wants us to eat his freshly prepared meal daily. Each day, he cooks food for us that he wants us to eat. And he opens the heavens and attaches the addresses of each one to it, saying to the angels, “Take these to my children on the earth.” Oh, how sweet to have your daily dose of peace, strength, counsel, wisdom, patience, love, material provisions, and everything you need.
Daily communion with your Father
Furthermore, in asking for what you need daily, you end up having fellowship daily with your heavenly Father. This was what the prodigal son missed when he ran off with his portion of the inheritance. And that was why his father waited for him outside the house when he returned. The father was visibly excited to see him because He too had missed the fellowship they enjoyed daily when his beloved son was at home (Luke 15:11-24).
Enjoying Fatherhood
In that daily interaction is not only the provision of bread, but fatherhood. There is guidance. It is correction and discipline. It is the joy of fellowship, the fatherly protection and emotional security over a maturing son. It is character formation and teaching his son how to become a man of the house tomorrow. There is mentorship. These and more are what we miss when we think we have sufficient for all the years of our lives; therefore, we see communing with God as a stress we can’t deal with.
Go outside the tent to gather
Here is another lesson from the same verse 16: The bread is outside the tent, so everyone must leave their house for their daily bread. The provision has been made by God, but you must go outside to get yours.
God, as a good Father, has the responsibility of provision, and we, as His children, have the responsibility of going to collect the provided manna outside our house. It is not just about literally leaving your house to work (that’s part of it), but generally about doing something that brings the manna into the house.
Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might, the scriptures teach us. God doesn’t want us to be lazy; he wants us to work with our intellect, our hands, legs, and indeed other parts of our body to collect what He has already provided.
Your profit is for the good of others
Still on that verse 16, we see that everyone who is in the tent gets their portion, even if they couldn’t go out. There are people, whether as children, aged people, pregnant women, nursing mothers, physically impaired, etc, who cannot go outside the tent to get their portion of the manna. These should be helped by those who go out. They shouldn’t be left to starve to death.
This is such an important lesson because the vulnerable and weak among us should eat well from the labour of the strong. The reward of your labour or the profit of your efforts is not meant for you to enjoy alone. They are meant to be shared with your household, as well as with those who temporarily or permanently cannot go out to get what is sufficient for them.
Every person is entitled to an Omer, not more and not less. If you get more, it is because God gave you the strength, wisdom, and assistance so that those who got less or nothing would feed from yours.
It is such an honour to be God’s hands extended to help those who cannot go out to get anything or those who got less. They will be grateful to God for feeding them, and God will bless those who made the needy praise Him. He that helps the poor, lends unto God, and God doesn’t owe; He surely pays his debts at the set time.
So, come to your heavenly father daily for all you need. He actually enjoys that fellowship with you more than you think.
