Give us today our daily bread.
Summary: Today, in honor of Thanksgiving, we jump ahead in the Lord’s Prayer to visit “our daily bread.”
When I read this line of the Lord’s Prayer, the first word that comes to mind is “Thankfulness.” We have acknowledged that God is God, and now we acknowledge that he is the source of our food.
We might think it is quaint that Jesus used the phrase, “daily bread,” but at some level we know he means more than a slice of Wonder Bread. Take Thanksgiving for example. Looking at the average person’s Thanksgiving dinner we see an abundance of variety. Turkey is traditional, but ham or roast beef is not uncommon. Then there is the mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and dressing and cranberry sauce on the side. Homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, and cookies of all kinds top off the meal.
The meal is a traditional celebration of thanksgiving to God for his protection and provision. The origin of the holiday dates back to 1621, four hundred and one years ago, when the Pilgrims who had arrived on the Mayflower and survived the first winter joined with the Native Americans who had helped them survive the winter in a feast that lasted three days.
In 1863, over two hundred years later, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the national day of Thanksgiving amid our country’s Civil War. He asked “all Americans to ask God to ‘commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.’”*
Regardless of how hard our lives might seem, we still benefit from an abundance of blessings in this country. Even as our nation seems to plunge ahead into economic and societal uncertainty, we still benefit from God’s many blessings.
So much of our attitude towards what we have depends on our expectations. Sadly, many of our neighbors have grown to expect that other people should cater to their wants and needs. If what they want isn’t exactly the way they want it, instead of being thankful for what they have, they throw a tantrum about what they don’t have.
Because of our fallen condition (Genesis 3:5) we have eyes that can “see” both good and bad. We can “see” things we want but don’t have and imagine that we should have them. The list of things a person could want is long; infinitely long. That means there are an infinite number of reasons to be disappointed with life, and all of them are imaginary.
The reasons to be thankful are finite in number, but they are all real. A heart that beats for another day, air to breathe, sunshine to light the day, water to drink, and food to eat. All of these are reasons to be thankful. When we discover that God is real and his Son, Jesus, loves us to death, we discover more reasons to be thankful.
Application: Spend a few minutes today counting your blessings. See how many you have.
Food for Thought: Two-part question: (A) What is your favorite Thanksgiving food? (B) What are you thankful for this year?
* https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving
A. I have always loved mashed potatoes and gravy. B. Here is a short list. I’m thankful for God’s perfect plan of redemption through the sinless blood of Jesus and His obedience “unto death, even the death of the cross.” I’m thankful that Christ sits at the “right hand of the Father to make intercession for us.” I’m thankful for family, friends, and coworkers (and Oxford commas, even though I’m not supposed to use them at work😉), my church family, my health and my job. I’m thankful for your posts. God bless you.
JEC,
Ah yes, the Oxford comma! Now there is something to be thankful for! Freedom from the tyranny of the stylebook! 🙂
Thank you, brother! God bless you and yours, too!
Thank you for your devotion again this morning. I am partial to stuffing and mashed potatoes – both with as much gravy as possible. And I am thankful for the cross. Where would we be without Christ’s willingness to die on our behalf? Of course, the resurrection is significantly important too.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Rich,
I have to agree with you about the stuffing. That is my favorite as well. (Yum… drool… CAN’T WAIT!!)
And yes, the salvation offered by Jesus Christ is a gift beyond anything we deserve or could reasonably hope for.