There are not a lot of examples in the gospels of people asking Jesus to teach them something. But in Luke 11, Jesus’ disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Perhaps more amazingly is that Jesus teaches them to pray in just fifty-odd words (about 290 characters by my count – just a little more than a tweet!)
In the next 8 blogs, we’ll look at the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. We’ll do this slowly and allow the truths of Jesus’ teaching to shape and encourage our prayer lives.
Daily bread
7th June 2021
Perhaps one of the greatest misconceptions of God today is that He exists to serve me; He exists to give me pleasure; or to stop anything bad happening to me. It is at the root of the false prosperity gospel, which claims that God is there to give me whatever I desire and want. And perhaps, more subtly, we too can be prone to think of God in this way – that He exists to serve me. When bad things happen in our lives, we think He has in some way let us down; or when we see others prospering materially, we think He is favouring them over us; or when we’re struggling with health or finances or family worries, we think He is holding something back from us.
Yet, as we have seen, Jesus’ model prayer shows us to first focus our prayers on God’s name, God’s Kingdom, and God’s will. And having submitted ourselves to His Kingdom and His will, we turn to our own needs and ask, 'give us this day our daily bread'. This isn’t a turn from God-ward priorities to our own. Instead by asking God for our daily bread, we declare our total reliance on Him - even for what we eat. When we ask the Lord to supply for our daily needs, we show our dependence on Him for absolutely everything in our lives.
We live in a period where our daily needs are dependent on the stock on the supermarket shelves and we don’t necessarily see God’s role in this. The family in Africa or South America who pray to the Lord to send rain on their crops that they might have enough to harvest and eat, see God’s role in supplying our food in a far clearer way.
Whose daily bread?
Jesus teaches us to pray for ‘our’ daily bread. We can often think of our own needs and miss the invitation to pray for the needs of our brothers and sisters. Even as we sit down to eat, we can forget the plight of brothers and sisters who are in need – who are skipping meals or who are unsure where the next meal will come from.
There may be times in our lives when we find ourselves in immediate, desperate need and we pray that God would provide our need for that day. And there may be times, perhaps far more commonly for us, where our prayers are that of thankfulness that we have not found ourselves in such a desperate situation today. And in either situation, we can pray that God would supply the needs of our brothers and sisters who are in need.
Did someone order manna?
When we think of God giving bread each day, I’m sure I’m not the only one thinking back to Exodus when God provided the Israelites with manna in the wilderness. If you’re not familiar with the story, you can read about it in Exodus 16. The provision of manna taught the Israelites to depend on God for what they needed each day. They were not allowed to store it up. Instead they awoke each morning wondering if they would have food for the day. And each morning, the Lord graciously and wonderfully provided for them.
Our prayer that the Lord would provide for our daily needs, is an ongoing lesson to depend on God for what we need each day. To put off the temptation to worry about tomorrow, to cast aside the temptation to look to self, and to trust that the Lord will graciously and wonderfully provide.
And, of course, there is a lesson to learn from the Israelites also – it didn’t take long before they were grumbling about the gracious and wonderful provision of God (Numbers 11). They weren’t satisfied with what God was giving them, they weren’t content with their daily needs being met. They grumbled. Do you ever find yourself dissatisfied or discontent with what God has given you? Do you find yourself grumbling, at least into yourself, about the gracious and wonderful provision God has made for us that day.
The apostle Paul, who knew times of need and times of abundance, explains the key to joy in God’s daily provision,
I have learned how to be content with whatever I have (Philippians 4:11)
How does this affect us as we pray this week?
Praise
Praise God for His gracious and wonderful provision in our lives – giving thanks that He cares for us and cares about what we need. Thank God for what we He has given to us acknowledging that everything we have comes from Him.
Repent
Repent of the times when either we have not asked God and instead depended on ourselves. And repent of the times when our response to God’s good gifts has been to grumble or complain.
Ask
Ask God to provide for your needs today and the needs of our brothers and sisters. Ask that God would teach us to be content with all we have.
Yield
Trust God and His faithful provision in our lives. Seek to live in dependence upon our Father for what we need each day – not worrying about tomorrow – but trusting God’s goodness and mercy each day.
Next - 'Forgive us our debts'