“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Matthew 6:9–13 (emphasis added)

In His great Sermon on the Mount, where the Creator entered His creation and taught His creatures, the Lord instructed us not to pray like the hypocrits do but to pray in secret to our Father who already knows what we need (Matt. 6:5–9).

Confronted By Prayer

Every line of the Lord’s Prayer challenges us:

Calling God “Father” requires us to acknowledge His authority;

Acknowledging that He is in heaven means He is distinct from me;

Proclaiming Him as holy means He is good and should not be challenged;

Requesting His kingdom makes His plan more important than my own;

What Is Daily Bread?

And then we get to “give us this day our daily bread.” The phrase “daily bread” is actually ambiguous. The Greek word for this phrase is ἐπιούσιος (epiousios), and it only occurs in the two iterations of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:11 and Luke 11:3). It is also absent from ancient literature, which makes it ever more curious.¹ Some of the Church Fathers (Origin, Jerome, Chrysostom) took the phrase to mean that which is necessary for existence; Origin specifically interpreted it not as physical bread but as the necessary spiritual substance received through Christ.²

Another way to interpret the phrase is as the physical substance we need for either today or tomorrow.³ I find this interpretation most persuasive for multiple reasons.

First, Jesus instructs us to request our ἐπιούσιος (epiousios) “this day” (Matt. 6:11, ESV). The underlying Greek word for “today” is σήμερον, which is simply means “today.”⁴ The idea is for us to acknowledge that God is the one who provides for us, and we repeatedly request His provision each day, for that day.

God’s Provision In The Old Testament

Second, this request harmonizes well with the Old Testament themes of humanity receiving God’s provision.

Humanity received provision from God in the Garden of Eden. That permission came within parameters. It was God’s intention for Adam and Eve to enjoy that provision, but they took and ate what had not been given as provision (Genesis 1–3).

When Israel was in the wilderness after the Exodus, God provided manna for them. Just as He did in the Garden, God gave His provision with parameters:

“Then the Lord said to 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. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.””

Exodus 16:4–5

Each day they were to gather for that day, and they were not permitted to hoard extra rations from today for tomorrow.⁵

Additionally, God included provision for the Levites within the Mosaic Law. The Levites were set apart to administer the religious life of Israel. They performed the sacrifices, made the atonement, tended to the Tabernacle, all of it. The Levites were not given a portion of the land to inherit; instead, the Lord and the peoples’ offerings were their inheritance (I have included some lengthy OT passages below). But, the sons of Eli “treated the offering of the LORD with contempt” (1 Sam. 2:17).

Our Provoking Question

And so we come to the question that has been provoking my mind for the last few weeks: how are we receiving our daily bread?

Some of us might be thankful for it because we consistently don’t have enough. Those of us who have ever wondered where our next meal will come from, or if we’ll be able to afford groceries this week are more likely to express gratitude for our daily bread; our consistent state of vulnerability to hunger allows us to know the significance of God’s provision and to see it as good.

But what if we’re like the many in the Western world who have more than enough? What if we’ve grown so used to having more than we need that we actual feel uncomfortable when we perceive our rations are dipping below ‘excessive excess’? What if “daily bread” is a reduction of what you’re used to? How do we genuinely ask for an amount we know will be significantly less than we’re accustomed to? What if we’ve grown offended and resentful at the idea of being dependent on God’s provision?

Responding With The Heart

These feelings frighten me. They tell me that I need more than what God has provided in order to feel comfortable and that I’ve assumed attaining “comfort” is what I need. Scripture shows us that humanity has a problem with accepting God’s provision as He’s chosen to offer it. Humanity believes God’s chosen provision for us will not sustain our best possible experience. It is not God who needs to adjust to our desire for excessive excess. We need to learn how to love God’s provision as He chooses to give it. When God meeting my needs (not excess) is no longer enough, I know I’m holding contempt for the Lord, and I need to repent.

It is not surprising that our Redeemer taught us to ask our Father for our daily bread. The curse of sin upon the world came through the act of desiring and taking more than we’ve been given (cf. Gen. 1–3). Our heart’s posture towards our daily bread / God’s provision reveals our inner heart posture towards God.

Happy Bibleing!

Old Testament Passages

⁸ Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due. ⁹ This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs and every sin offering of theirs and every guilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons. ¹⁰ In a most holy place shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it is holy to you. ¹¹ This also is yours: the contribution of their gift, all the wave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. ¹² All the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and of the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, I give to you. ¹³ The first ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it. ¹⁴ Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. ¹⁵ Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. ¹⁶ And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. ¹⁷ But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸ But their flesh shall be yours, as the breast that is waved and as the right thigh are yours. ¹⁹ All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.”

Numbers 18:8–19

Provision for Priests and Levites

18 “The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the Lord’s food offerings as their inheritance. ² They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. ³ And this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. ⁴ The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. ⁵ For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.

Deuteronomy 18:1–5

Footnotes

1. Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, rev. and ed. Frederick W. Danker, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), s.v. ἐπιούσιος, 376–77. ↩︎
2. Walter Bauer, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon, 376; Oirgin draws on Jesus’ language within the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6; See Manlio Simonetti and Thomas C. Oden, eds. Matthew 1–13. vol. 1a of Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. ICCS/Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 134. ↩︎
3. Walter Bauer, et al., A Greek English Lexicon, 376–77. A fourth option is also listed that refers to the heavenly banquet, but I personally do not find it very persuasive. Additionally, a “physical sustenance” interpretation does not exclude the possibility of a mysterious spiritual principle also being present; cf. “man does not live on bread alone” (Matt. 4:4); see also Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Ed. (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), 679–81; 687. ↩︎
4. Walter Bauer, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. σήμερον, 921. ↩︎
5. “And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.” (Exodus 16:19–21 ESV) ↩︎