Sunday Devotional: Matthew 6:11

Give to us today the food we need.

The petitions switch now to the first person plural: “us,” “we.” Jesus is shifting focus from the global to the personal. From things we want the Lord to do throughout the world, to things we want the Lord to do for us. It’s important to note the balance in the Lord’s Prayer between personal petitions and intercessory petitions. As needy people, we can often find our prayers overloaded with requests for God to do things for us–provide jobs, money, health, and so on. Yet, sometimes we feel guilty about that and focus our prayers solely on the needs of others: wisdom for our governments, protection for our church leaders, healing for a sick friend or relative. But we see that both kinds of petitions, the personal and the intercessory, are legitimate and, in fact, modeled here by the Lord.

My translation of the fourth petition is not quite as literal as my previous translations. There is debate over the meaning of a key word in the Greek: epousion. This word makes its first appearance in this prayer, and is not known outside the New Testament. Some have speculated on the derivation of this word, whether it’s based on a verb, or it’s made up from a couple of other words (epi + ousia = “necessary for existence”; epi tên ousan = “for today”; hê epiousa = “for the next day”; epienai = “to be coming”–i.e., for the future).

Many translations seem to favor “daily” or “for this day,” but some commentators object that the word “today” (Greek: sêmeron) isalready  at the end of the sentence, which in Greek is a place of emphasis. This would make “for today” redundant, they argue. These commentators prefer an eschatological, or “end-times” meaning to this, looking forward to that time when “many will come from the east and the west and recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11), and asking that such a time would come today. This would make the fourth petition continuous with the second.

However, I think looking for an eschatological meaning to this petition misses the point. Jesus has just been railing against the “hypocrites” and “heathens” (Greek ethnikoi) who make a show of their prayers, standing on street corners and babbling away. Rather, his disciples should pray in private, and bring simple petitions before the Lord, coming from a heart He already knows. Given that, I don’t think Jesus is telling his disciples to belabor the point about wanting God’s kingdom to come. I think he is directing their attention to relying on their heavenly Father to make provision for them temporally, in the here-and-now, just as He has (and will do) eternally.

Remember Exodus 16?  The Israelites are moaning (again): they never went hungry in Egypt, but Moses has led the people out into the wilderness to die of starvation. God replied to them by providing manna–bread from heaven. The people were to go out and gather the manna as much as is necessary for each day (Hebrew: d^evar-yôm b^eyômô) as a test of obedience (literally, “whether they walk in my law or not”).

I find the parallel between this and the fourth petition striking. Isn’t this what Jesus is asking us to pray? That our daily prayer should be for the Lord to provide for us what we need for each day. The only day God permitted the Israelites to stock up on manna for the next day was on the day before the Sabbath. This was because there would be no manna on the Sabbath so Israel could observe that day of rest. Otherwise, if they tried to store manna for more than one day, it would go bad.

Does this mean we shouldn’t plan for the future, budget our resources, and so on? Should our pantries only contain what we need each day, and we go shopping every morning for the day’s needs? I don’t think that’s the point. The lesson I believe God was trying to teach the Israelites, and indeed He is teaching us, is that He should be our daily reliance. We can plan and prepare all we want, but we must ultimately recognize that our daily provision is from His hand. And we need to trust Him to give us what we need each day to sustain us for that day. We shouldn’t be dictated to by our greed, or our self-reliance. Rather, we should wake up each morning with thankful hearts for all the Lord has given us, and each night pray that He will ensure we have enough for tomorrow.

Let’s make that our daily prayer: “Lord, I thank You for all You have given me, and I look to You and You alone to provide for my spiritual and physical needs today.”

Have  a great week!