ON THE VANGUARD

DAILY BREAD
“Give us today our daily bread.”
Matthew 6:11

I am a lover of bread. Not quite sure what it is, but I honestly could eat bread every day. I love rye the most, but my top five rounds out with French, sour dough, potato bread, and wheat. So when I hear the words, ‘Give us today our daily bread,’ I honestly find myself getting a little hungry. I love bread so much that I have considered doing a bread and water fast sometime in the future, like Rees Howells once did as he fasted for salvation around the time of the Welsh revival in 1904. But I have a feeling that when we are being told by Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer to pray that God gives us today our daily bread, it means more than just a physical snack.
The word ‘give’ here in this passage is the Greek word DIDOMI, and it is translated correctly as a giving, furnishing, or supplying. Jesus’ words to His disciples were in fact the asking that God would supply something for them. In this case, Jesus pushed them to request a specific thing – daily bread. And when was the bread to be given? This day, or SEMERON in the Greek. The word ‘semeron’ translates as this very day. So the pieces are coming together and we see the disciples being instructed to request that God supply this very day their daily bread.
Before we go on looking at the Greek words here, I want us to look at an account in Exodus 16. Starting in verse 4 we read that God spoke to Moses that He would rain down bread from heaven for the people. This bread was termed manna. But along with giving them the manna God also gave them specific directions. Sunday through Thursday they were only to take enough for that one day. On Friday, however, they were allowed to take twice as much as there would be no manna provided on Saturday, the Sabbath. The people went out that first morning and gathered their manna and it turned out that everyone gather the same about, an omers portion for each person. But one of the other rules for the people was to not leave any till morning. Again, it was to be that specific day’s portion. Those who did not obey this command woke up to a stench and the sight of maggots. On the day when they were to take the double amount, some did not obey also. They woke up ready to collect on Saturday and found nothing to be collected. I point this account out because according to God it was a daily portion, with the exception of the Sabbath.
Going back to Matthew’s record of the Lord’s Prayer we find again the words, “Give us today our daily bread.” This request in the prayer seems to match with the account of Moses. The bread from the day before is not to carry us for the week, nor is it even supposed to be left over for a day. It is to be daily. This word ‘daily’ in the Greek is EPIOUSIOS, meaning the necessity for that day, while ‘bread’ is the word ARTOS, meaning a physical bread, but also bread of any kind. In this prayer we are to request that God provide for us at this moment the necessary bread we need. And boy do we need it. Just as our body needs food, so also our spirit man needs food. The great thing is that just as God provided manna for the Israelites, so also He is willing to provide His manna for us.
God, I no longer want to live on the manna from yesterday that has gone stinky and infested, I want the fresh manna. Give me today, God, my daily bread.