Give us today our daily bread

I

n Exodus 16 we find God’s children – now safely delivered from slavery in Egypt and Pharaoh’s army – grumbling against God in the wilderness.

Grumbling in the wilderness. Been there.

Done that.

These people were confused disappointed, and hungry. They were struggling to see how God could meet their needs. They had just escaped one trial only to be swallowed up by a greater one.

And speaking of swallowing, did I mention that they were hungry? The whole congregation of Israel grumbled, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

The wilderness can mean a lot of things to us today. An argument with a loved one. Bad news from the doctor. A rebellious child. Financial hardship. A season of loneliness, confusion, anxiety or grief.

The wilderness is a place of hunger and great need. It’s a season in which it’s easy to grumble against God because, if we’re not careful to guard ourselves, it seems that our need... our hunger... is greater than God’s ability to provide. We begin to take our eyes off of His outreached arm, and set our focus upon the trial of today and uncertainty of tomorrow. We see only what we’re missing – bread.

From my perspective, the entirety of our lives is wilderness. And I say that only to point out that from the moment we come into this world until the moment that we leave it, we have needs that only God can supply – whether physi- cal, emotional or spiritual.

Thankfully, God knows what we need even before we ask. And just as He mercifully made the heavens rain down bread each day for the Israelites in their wilderness, He can do the same for us in ours. Like God’s people of old, we can wake up each morning, hungry though we may be, and pray as Jesus taught us – “Give us today our daily bread.”

Daily bread.

We don’t get to gather anything up for tomorrow.

That’s not how this works. We’ll pick up tomorrow’s bread, tomorrow.

But today we place our trust in God’s provision being greater than our hunger. And then tomorrow we do the same.

And then the day after that. And then the day after that. And as we make our way through our own proverbial wilderness – with its many dangers, toils, and snares – may we remember that our greatest hunger is not relief from these things, but instead, it’s for more and more of Jesus, who said in John 6:35 – “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

Have you gathered your bread yet today?