When Jesus invites us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” he is inviting us to rely on our Heavenly Father for our basic needs.
Our need is larger than we think, however. We need to depend on God for all things. Yes, our actual need is for bread, which is a necessity of life. But Jesus is trying to teach us to rely on God for all the necessities of life and all of the extras, which make life joyful, meaningful and complete. Anxiety now exists in every human heart. We worry non-stop about the future. Our needs are more and bigger than we realize, as they touch mind, body and soul. Most are beyond the remedy of more income or money to supply or fix. Martin Luther put is this way, “Everything necessary for the preservation of life is bread; including food, a healthy body, good weather, shelter, home, spouse, children, good government and peace.”
Jesus teaches us not to forget or presume upon the basics of life without acknowledging God as the giver of all things. In Matthew 6:25-27 Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Jesus expands our praying and perspective on living.
One of life’s greatest mysteries to me is how hummingbirds survive. They are so small with no fat on their bodies. Their heart beats about 1,200 times per minute. According to the Cornell Lab or Ornithology, if humans had the metabolism of a busy hummingbird, we’d need to eat about 300 hamburgers a day to survive. Wow! Hummingbirds must eat all day long to sustain their rate of metabolism. They consume about half of their body weight in insects and nectar daily, feeding every 10-15 minutes. Many Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds travel over 2,000 miles to Panama for the winter. And while on this journey, they must rely on God to provide food for them multiple times per hour or they will die. Let that sink in for a minute. If God doesn’t provide for their daily needs, they die!
You are so much more valuable to God than are the birds of the air. Our Heavenly Father is eager to give you, daily, what you need.
