When asked to pray at the Simpson dinner table, eldest son Bart Simpson, offered the following words, “Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing.”

Before we condemn Bart, we must put his prayer in perspective. Bart is simply saying out loud what we sometimes think inside. In the words of Lee Strobel, Bart is “merely more honest than most.” How often do we authentically and passionately pray in regard to our daily meals? Do we gratefully recognize that our food is ultimately a gift of God? Or, do we take God’s provision for granted? Do we acknowledge our desperate need for God in all things? Or, does our material abundance blind us to our radical dependence upon God, and inspire us to pray like spoiled brats rather than needy children?

Truth be told, few of us pray “Give us this day our daily bread” with full awareness of what we are actually saying. Before we throw stones at Bart Simpson, we need to seriously reflect on our own “table manners” before God.

Maintaining the Order

We have come to the midpoint of the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus gave us this prayer as a guide and a model. Everything about the prayer is packed with significance – especially the order in which the words and phrases are structured. Up until this point in the prayer, all the clauses are entirely concerned with God – God’s holiness, kingdom, and will. It is only after consideration of and submission to these divine realities that personal requests are made. Only after we have ascended in our heart to adore the Father, seek his kingdom, and accept his will, are we in the proper mindset to pray the remainder of the prayer.

It is imperative that we maintain this order in approaching God. Our natural tendency is to reverse this order – to begin with our desires, will, and dreams rather than with God’s righteousness, kingdom, and glory. Prayer detached from divine glory quickly descends to a laundry list of items that more resemble a Christmas list to Santa Claus than communion with the divine. The personal petitions of the Lord’s Prayer – give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our sins, lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil – can only be prayed after God’s holiness, kingdom, and will have been given preeminence. Our personal petitions are not supposed to be selfish, but an act of self-surrender to the divine will for the sake of the divine kingdom springing from love for the divine glory.

With this in mind, we examine the first personal petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.” On the surface, it appears like a simple request. However, upon closer examination, we find that it contains deep insights into our relationship with God and others.

“Give…”

It is impossible to pray “Give us this day our daily bread” with Bart Simpson’s attitude. To pray this prayer is to recognize that everything we receive is ultimately a gift from God. Though we pride ourselves on independence and self-reliance, we cannot truly pray this prayer if we believe that what we possess is ultimately the result of our own achievements: “Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing.”

Ultimately, all is gift: “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). This extends beyond the gift of food. It also encompasses our ability to work for food.

“What good thing do you have that you did not ultimately receive from God? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Whether we choose to recognize it or not, all good things come from God – the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of all. There is no self-made man or woman in this world. The source of all our gifts, abilities, and talents is God. This is true for all people, regardless of their conscious commitment (or lack thereof) to God’s glory, kingdom, and will. Indeed, the very breath the atheist uses to curse God is a gift from God. From creation to consummation, all God’s actions toward us are gracious, loving, and intended for our good and his glory.

Since God is the source of all good gifts, we are dependent on God for everything. The prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” constantly reminds us of our radical dependence on God for all things – both small and great.

It is our pride that refuses to admit how desperately we need God. We want to pretend that we have it all together – that we are without need of a divine crutch in life. We forget that without God we have nothing. Children instinctively recognize this:

Just look at a child who is lost at the zoo or in the grocery store. The look of terror says it all. Children have no illusions. They know they are helpless and dependent. They know where their toys, food and love come from. Though they may be unable to verbalize it, children know they are totally dependent on Mom and Dad.

To pray the petition, “Give us this day our daily bread,” is to be childlike and admit my dependency, helplessness and need.[1]

“Give us this day our daily bread” exposes the sins of pride and ingratitude. These are no small vices. When we refuse to admit our dependence upon God and seek to live without regard to God, we fail to live in accordance with reality. We are helpless and hopeless without God’s good gifts in our lives. Just as in human relationships, it is proper and good to recognize the source of all good gifts. When we refuse to give God thanks and honor, we take God for granted – we become ingrates!

Ingratitude is a much darker sin than most people recognize. Indeed, ingratitude is at the very heart – perhaps even the very root – of sin. Paul expresses this clearly in his letter to the Romans:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (Romans 1:20-21)

Refusing to recognize a gift is an offense against the giver. In a profound sense, then, sin is a matter of taking God for granted.

Regularly praying “Give us this day our daily bread” is a means to continually remind ourselves that we are dependent on God for everything. It purges ingratitude and provokes in us an attitude of gratitude – an attitude that pervades all of life.

To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us – and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.[2]

“Daily Bread”

We should be grateful for all things, whether great and small. If we allow Jesus’ prayer to guide us, our primary requests should be simple. Instead of “spiritualizing” the request to include anything we desire, we should note that “daily bread” is nothing fancy or lavish.

Bread is a need; not a want. It is something we need to survive. Jesus does not call us to pray for our daily “luxuries” or “comforts.” He certainly is not calling us to pray for prosperity! This is “a prayer expressing dependence on God for daily bread and asking only for bread was the prayer of a person willing to live simply, satisfied with the basics (Proverbs 30:8-9; cf. 1 Timothy 6:8).”[3] The focus is not on abundance but on “the minimal requirements that are needed for us to survive physically and spirituality.”[4] Notably absent from this petition are requests “for earthly favors, such as fortune, health, power, happiness, or peace.”[5]

Jesus’ emphasis on our simple needs strikes a daily blow to our “felt needs” (or should we say, “felt desires”). We live in a consumeristic society – a society where everyone from our President to the local business owner are constantly inviting us to spend more money to buy more stuff. We are assaulted by a steady stream of advertisements that relentlessly seek to stir dissatisfaction with our present lot in life. In such a society, it is difficult to live simply and contentedly. We are told that we never have enough, that we deserve more, that we are fuddy-duddies if we don’t have the latest and greatest styles and fashions, that we are impotent without the most improved, fastest-acting item on the market.

In a world like this, it is easy to confuse our needs with our wants. This confusion often extends to our prayer life. The Lord’s Prayer calls us to remember that daily bread is a divine gift and not to be taken for granted. Our hunger – indeed, our demand – for more is a dangerous trap. For this reason, Will Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas encourage us to pray in the following manner: “For us, we ought to pray for the grace to be able to say, in a culture of overconsumption, ‘Give us the grace to know when enough is enough’ or ‘Help us to say, ‘No’ when the world entices us with so much.’”[6]

“This Day”

The Lord’s Prayer is meant to be prayed daily: “Give us this day…” Our daily hunger pains call us to remember that we need to regularly recognize God’s active and loving presence in our lives.

Whether we recognize it or not, God reaches out to us daily. God does this mostly through simple and common things – things like bread. God also does this through others. The bread we receive, which ultimately comes from God, comes through the God-enabled efforts of others.

Every time we ask God for bread, we are acknowledging not only our dependence upon a beneficent God but also our dependence on other people. No bread comes to our table without the work, the sacrifice, and the gifts of strangers whom we do not know, and cannot thank.[7]

Since God reaches out to us daily, we can only assume that God desires a living and thriving personal relationship with us. God wants us to daily recognize and enjoy his gifts. God wants us to learn and maintain a steady – a daily – rhythm of trust and dependence upon him. God proves faithful to us and longs for us to respond with faith, love, and joy.

Our call is to trust and thank God this day; not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today! God’s daily care for us is the reason that worry is a sin. Worry is counter-productive. It causes us to lose sight of the priorities of God’s kingdom. Worry is always about a far-flung future that hardly ever comes to pass.

By living with fear in the future we lose the ability to live with trust and courage in the present. Our focus on what-may-be in the future takes our focus off what-really-matters in the present. For this reason, Jesus taught, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). By worrying about tomorrow, we often put off until tomorrow the one thing we should be doing today: seeking God’s kingdom and his righteousness. We do this best when we confidently rest in God’s daily provision.

“Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31-33)

“Us”

Truth be told, most of us are not concerned with whether we will have enough to eat today. Because of this, the petition for daily bread seems trivial in light of other concerns that occupy our attention. We simply do not have to worry about whether we will eat today or not. Most of us have an ample supply of provision, not only for today, but for weeks, perhaps months. Our primary concern is not “Will we eat?” but “Will we obtain all the other stuff we desire?” Put simply, our main worry is not, “Will I have what I need?” but “Will I get what I want?”

How, then, in light of our situation do we meaningfully pray this prayer with conviction? The answer lies in the little word, “us”.

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we pray with the entire community of God’s people. It tortures the text – and Jesus’ intentions – to pray the Lord’s Prayer in the first person (ex. “Give me this day my daily bread”). Jesus purposefully built into the Lord’s Prayer a mechanism that forces us to think of others when we pray. The entire prayer is in the second-person: “Our Father… give us/our… forgive us… lead us… deliver us.”

One never prays the Lord’s Prayer alone! Thus, when we pray the Lord’s Prayer we pray in solidarity with all Christians everywhere – many who live in poor economical conditions. Furthermore, as priests to the world and ambassadors of God’s kingdom, we pray for the entire world – a world that desperately needs this prayer, even if we don’t.

The vast majority of the people in the world do not live as we do. If “we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of only 100 people, it would look something like this:”

There would be

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 North and South Americans
8 Africans
30 white
70 nonwhite
6 people would possess 59% of the world's wealth, and all 6 would be from the United States
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer malnutrition
1  would have a college education
1  would own a computer[8]

A vast majority of the world barely survives while we thrive. Right now, 1.2 billion people in the world currently live on about $1 a day.[9] What does it mean to pray “Give us this day our daily bread” when we possess so much already? We must consider more seriously our solidarity with the poor and hungry around the world. We pray

not just for the hungry, but with the hungry… We should see ourselves, as we pray the Lord’s Prayer, as part of the wider Christian family, and human family, standing alongside the hungry, and praying, in that sense, on their behalf. We offer ourselves, in this prayer, as representatives of this world (this is what it means to be ‘a royal priesthood’).[10]

Our prayer should also provoke generosity for the less fortunate. For the poor and hungry of this world, “Give us this day our daily bread” is “a cry of desperation. For [us], it needs to become a vow of generosity.”[11] Since God has so richly blessed us – and to deny this would itself be a sin – we should make every effort to bless others. Relatively speaking, we possess an abundance. We must consider more seriously how we can use our resources to bless the world – especially at the place of its greatest need.

In 1998, it was determined that it would take only thirteen billion dollars to eliminate starvation in the world. In 1999, the American church spent six billion dollars just on new buildings. How would the rest of the world react if they saw churches committing themselves to feeding the world instead of building luxurious sanctuaries, gyms, and family-life centers?[12]

Someday, we must give an account for all God’s gifts and what we did with them. Will God be pleased that we hoarded so much wealth to ourselves by building monuments to consumerism instead of relieving the suffering of the poor?

God uses human instruments to answer prayer. Perhaps we could be instruments through which God answers, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Though we can never be certain whether God is pleased by bigger, larger, more luxurious and attractive buildings, we can be certain that God is pleased when we remember the poor and needy!

© Richard J. Vincent, 2005