Late last year my brothers-in-law and some friends went out to hike the Grand Canyon. The plan was to complete the famous rim to rim route that many hikers attempt but not all succeed, because it’s a 25 mile hike, with 11,000 ft. of elevation change, that takes the average hiker 12-13 hours to finish. I’ve been on long hikes before in my life. I’ve been on hard hikes too. But I’ve never attempted a hike quite like this one. So, I was excited to get at it. And as soon as I began training for this and planning for this a strange realization hit me. I think it hits every hiker at least once during a hike. I realized that I would be carrying all my food with me into the Canyon, and the only way to get more food was to get out of the Canyon at the finish. Calculating exactly how many calories I would need, what kind of calories I would need, and how much these calories weighed was stressful. Because I knew that each time I stopped to eat, which needed to be often, my pack would get lighter and lighter until a point came where there was no more food. Yet, the stress of planning this so carefully forced me to think about food in a way I don’t normally.
I mean, I’m a modern person. I don’t normally think about my food in this way. I generally take food for granted. When the fancy hits me I can go drive to Burger King and get a Double Whopper, or I can go to Dunkin Donuts to get a coffee, or I can go to Publix and have my choice of all kinds of foods! This is modern life for most of us. We’re not used to thinking this much about our day to day food, we just go get it, or have it on hand. Yet, as one author puts it, even here in the land of plenty we ought to pray for our daily bread.[1]
We find ourselves in a series within a series right now on Sunday mornings. The big series is we’re going through the Sermon on the Mount, and the smaller series we’re in is the Lord’s Prayer. We’ve been taking our time savoring this well known passage of Scripture, and it has been wonderful. Today we come to the fourth request, found in v11, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Most of us think we know what this means when we come to it, but my oh my, when we examine it closely, taking the rest of Scripture into consideration as well as the thought come down to us from the history of the Church, a whole world of glory opens up for us. So see first…
Transition to the Mundane?
Right away as we get to v11 in the Lord’s Prayer we need to step back and see the grand picture before us. The first three requests in v9b-10 show us the priorities we ought to have in all our praying. In that our praying should begin with God’s glory. So when we come before “Our Father in heaven” we ask that His name be hallowed, that His Kingdom come, and that His will be done here among us and all throughout the earth as it is done in heaven. That’s how all our praying ought to begin. But where do we go from there? v11 show us as it brings us to a transition from the higher things to the lower things, from God’s glory to our needs. This in itself can feel something like whiplash, because praying about God’s glory seems so big and so grand while praying about our needs seems so small and so insignificant. Now, while it is true that we ourselves are small in the grand scheme of things, v11 is no transition to the mundane, no shift to the ho-hum. What do I mean? I mean that these two concerns, God’s glory and our good, are placed here together side by side to teach us that both of these realities should be present in our praying.
Generally, I’ve found that people tend to lean towards one of these realities more than the other. Some of you might think you’re being super biblical and robustly spiritual if you only ever pray about God’s glory and His sovereign purposes in the world and never pray about your own needs or the needs of others. Perhaps this has been you in the past or this is you now and in that posture you’ve thought to yourself, ‘God is God, He’ll take care of all the rest.’ Others of you might be on the other side of this thinking you’re being super loving and caring and serving others well if you only ever pray about needs that are pressing down on yourself and others. Perhaps this has been you in the past or this is you now and in that posture you’ve thought to yourself, ‘I’m not going to be one of those out of touch theological types, my prayers are the stuff of real life, that’s where God really meets us.’ Well, both of these people are wrong. Neglecting God’s glory in prayer or neglecting common needs in prayer is to pray in an unbalanced and unbiblical posture. Church, to pray is right, truly. I want to be really slow to critique someone’s heartfelt devotion to prayer. But if we’re to be people who pray rightly, that is to pray as Jesus instructs us, we’ll pray about both of these realities, things concerning God’s glory as well things concerning our common needs. Really, that both of these realities are here side by side reminds us of a colossal truth…that our great God truly cares about us little creatures. That is quite the encouraging thought.
Towards Understanding
Now that we’ve seen something of the wonder of this fourth request, let’s move on toward defining these terms more closely so we understand what Jesus is teaching us.
“Give us this day our daily bread.” What is this request all about? I want to answer this question in three ways. First, this request has deep roots in the OT. Second, this request has a literal sense to it. And third, this request has a spiritual sense to it. Let’s take each of those in turn.
Deep OT Roots
As these words came across Jesus’ listeners they would have been drawn back to the imagery of ancient Israel. I think both the word daily and the word bread would have stirred their souls, because daily bread was exactly what God graciously gave Israel after the Exodus.[2] You might be familiar with the moment recorded for us to revisit in Exodus 16. It wasn’t all that long after God had saved Israel by causing the waters of the Red Sea to fall back onto Pharaoh and his Egyptian host, securing them by defeating their enemies. As its recorded in Scripture, literally the next paragraph shows the Israelites grumbling about how hard life is in the wilderness. In Exodus 16:2-3 we read, “And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’”
There is a lot wrong in them in this moment isn’t there? Do they really mean this? Do they really remember what it was like for them to be in Egypt? They way they describe their former life and experience in Egypt is like a resort. They there were by the scenic Nile river, enjoying the sunshine with full meat pots and more bread than they could eat. They just so happen to not include being slaves, the harsh taskmasters, and the severe demands imposed on them. No, they just remember the good stuff, at least that’s what they tell Moses and Aaron in this moment. That the wilderness is so much worse than Egypt was, that they wish they would’ve actually died back in Egypt! I’m sure they didn’t really mean these words, their suffering greatly and scared of the wilderness, and so their words reflect that.
But what does God do in response to their temper tantrum? He graciously provides for them. How? With daily bread. Exodus 16:4 says it, “Then the LORD said the Moses, ‘Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.” In great kindness God rains bread from heaven for Israel to eat in the wilderness. And He made sure to tell them, that this Manna would fall every day, and that they were to go out and gather it every day instead of going out once a week or once a month and keeping large amounts of it at home. No, Israel would have to trust God for their food every day. This extraordinary kindness of the Lord was to be remembered throughout their generations as well. Near the end of that same chapter, Exodus 16, God commanded that some Manna be kept as a reminder of how God provided for the needs of His people. And God’s provision of food would even come to be put down in the poetry of God’s people in many places. One example is Psalm 104:28-29 which says, “When You give it (food) to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are filled with good things. When You hide Your face, they are dismayed; when You take away Your breath, they die and return to their dust.” Another example is Proverbs 30:8 where the wise man prays for God to only feed him with the food that is needful for him.
Much of the same theme is present here in this fourth request in the Lord’s Prayer. God’s people have always had to trust God for daily provision. So as Israel trusted God for daily bread back then, we must do the same today.
Literal Sense
And I mean that when I say it. The primary meaning of Matthew 6:11 is the literal sense of the words, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Meaning this is to be understood as a prayer for daily bread, for one’s daily food. But, as is true with most things in a fallen world, this is not widely agreed on. There is a debate as to what these words truly mean. Some believe this request is entirely about the Kingdom of God to come in the end, that to ask this request of God is to ask Him to partake of the great banquet at the end of the ages with Him around His throne.[3] One might wonder ‘Where do they get that from the text?’ The reasoning behind this stems from v10. There we pray for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done here on earth as in heaven. This is indeed a great and glorious prayer about great and glorious things. I think those that hold this view about v11, have trouble with how low v11 seems when compared to v10, and so they try to raise up v11 to make it higher and loftier than it first appears. I don’t doubt that one day all those in Christ will feast with Him in glory, but I do not think that is the primary meaning of v11.
Others believe this fourth request is actually a prayer for God to provide bread for tomorrow not today.[4] Again, one might wonder ‘Where do they get that from the text?’ Well, this view comes from the Greek wording in v11. The word daily in Greek is the word epiousion. To say this is a rare word is an understatement. It’s only in the Bible once, right here in v11. And outside the Bible this word has only been found once, on a fragment of papyrus that scholars believe to be an ancient grocery list. This means it’s very difficult to know what the word means. The scholars believe it means ‘tomorrow’s bread’ rather than daily bread, and that translation is even noted in a footnote of the ESV we use. This in effect makes v11 read, “Give us this day our bread for tomorrow.” Now, I understand how language can be tricky sometimes, but I don’t agree with this at all, for one big reason. Didn’t Jesus warn us against worrying about tomorrow? He did. Later on in Matthew 6:25-34 we find it. A warning so strong, in fact, that Jesus concludes it by saying, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Why then, would Jesus instruct us to pray about tomorrows bread if He teaches us to be turning our attention away from tomorrow and toward today?
So I believe v11, as traditionally known, is what it means. Asking God for daily bread is to ask Him for basic daily food. That is the literal primary sense to be understood.
Spiritual Sense
But I also think more than the literal sense is present here. I think a spiritual sense of Matthew 6:11 is also present, as a secondary meaning of the words, “Give us this day our daily bread.” In this spiritual sense this is to be understood as a prayer for all that we need from God to be fed in the soul as well as a reference to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Deut. 8:3 and Matthew 4:4 remind us, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus even spoke like this saying He is the Bread of life, and the Bread come down from heaven, and that whoever eats this Bread lives forever. The spiritual sense of this fourth request really means one simple thing. Just as we cannot last very long without physical bread feeding our bodies, we also cannot last very long without the Bible, without Jesus, and without His gospel feeding our souls.[5]
This spiritual sense was taught and believed by most Christians within the early, Medieval, and Reformation Church. While I think the literal sense is first and primary here, I do not think we should frown on the spiritual sense as somehow out of bounds.
So in sum, what are we really asking for here in this fourth request? To ask God to give us our daily bread is to ask God to give us all we need for life in this world, the physical necessities as well as the spiritual necessities.[6]
Embracing Dependence
If there were one large principle standing out from this fourth request it’s this: embracing dependence.
As strong as we think we are, we are all of us weak and needy people. Just the other week I was feeling really strong and able. I had a good week in the Word, a good week at home, a good week at work, and a good week in the gym. From all this I was feeling really strong. Then I sneezed, and everything changed. I must have been looking the wrong way or something but when I sneezed I felt a lightning like pain run all up and down my neck and back, and while I was sore for the rest of that day, I could barely move my neck when I woke up the next day. I couldn’t look down, I could barely turn my head to the left, my neck was so stiff I had to look in the mirror to get my belt on right. For all the supposed strength I was feeling, all it took was one little sneeze to bring about great weakness. As strong as we think we are, we are all just one sneeze away from being incapacitated. Even though its harder than we’d like to admit, remembering and feeling how weak we are is a good thing for us, because it reminds us of who is strong.
The first word in v11 shows us this too.[7] The prayer in v11 begins with the word give to demonstrate that everything we need for our physical and spiritual existence is given to us by God as a gift. We don’t create it and we don’t earn it. Don’t misread this first word, give is not gimme. ‘Gimme the stuff I need for daily life’ is an arrogant prayer, coming from a demanding and entitled spirit. When the word ‘Give’ begins our prayer born out of a spirit of humility, ‘Give us what we need for daily life’ is a prayer that gladdens the heart of God. Why? Because God is glorified in our dependence on Him.
Conclusion:
Think about what you have. Do you breath in your lungs? Do you have food in your belly? Do you have family and friends? Do you have a spouse? Do you have kids? Do you have a job? Do you have a church? Do you have a favorite song to sing? Do you have books on your shelves? Do you have socks and shoes on your feet? More importantly, does the cross of Christ shine out brightly to you? Are you redeemed? Are your sins forgiven? Does the righteousness of Christ clothe you? Do you have a heavenly inheritance waiting for you? Does God’s Spirit fill your soul? Do you have the Lord?
Our God is a great and glad Giver! He loves to give! So we glorify Him when we come to Him for our daily bread. Give thanks to Him!
[1] Kevin DeYoung, The Lord’s Prayer: Learning from Jesus on What, Why, and How to Pray (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022) 57.
[2] R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew – NICNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007) 248.
[3] One example of this view is Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 1-13 – WBC (Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1993) 148-150.
[4] One example of this view is R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom - PTC (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001) 185-189.
[5] DeYoung, The Lord’s Prayer, 66-67.
[6] R.C. Sproul, The Prayer of the Lord (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust, 2009) 67.
[7] DeYoung, The Lord’s Prayer, 57-58.
