January 30

“Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11

Some may have trouble in understanding how the Lord can teach us to pray for God’s name, God’s kingdom, and God’s will, and then suddenly turn to the matter of daily bread. It appears unfitting to take such a plunge in prayer from the sublime to the very mundane. But there is a good reason for our Lord’s words. He knew only too well that those who are devoted to the will of God will become involved in fierce hostility: that those who pray kingdom prayers will inevitably draw upon themselves Satanic attacks which will threaten their very existence.

Bread is man’s elemental need. If he is to stand for the will of God to be done on earth, he must be kept alive. Hence the relevancy of his asking for daily bread if he is to be true to God in this evil world.