Entitled?

www.bible.com/72/mat.6.11.hcsb

There is a sentiment among our younger generations that we are entitled to three squares a day, a home to live in, free education, and a job when you graduate college. Whether you agree with that sentiment or not probably shows how old you are or what your political persuasion is. It doesn’t make you a good person or a bad person, but it does affect your attitude towards the providence of God.

In this verse, we come to closest to the idea of entitlement when it comes to daily needs. Hear me out. Asking for daily bread (or if you read it in a certain voice, it sounds like a demand), was a simple request, but it called for a great deal of faith. You see when Jesus uttered these words, people lived from day to day. We may live paycheck to paycheck, but they didn’t know for certain that tomorrow would bring a meal. Among the poor and often hungry people He ministered too, asking for “daily bread” was a pipe dream. It requires extraordinary faith to trust in a God Who would provide daily needs like that. They didn’t doubt they would need to work for it, so this Prayer included the idea that the work needed to pay for the bread would also be requested. Also then the health to be able to work, and the ability to do the work. Daily bread was about God’s provision. They didn’t think God would drop manna from heaven, but that He would provide the circumstances so that they could get their bread as they needed.

We have often expanded this to include all daily provisions, and provisions for the day, as we have no assurance of tomorrow. But for these hearers it meant a lot to have the assurance that today God is looking out for me. We have that assurance too. God is looking out for your needs today. And yes, we need to be praying that dependence upon Him. When we pray this prayer, we remind ourselves both of His provision and our need for it. God honors such humility. Don’t be afraid to ask.

God bless you today!