There are nearly one billion hungry people in the world today. People who are so hungry that their bodies, in order to survive are burning their own fat, protein and muscle in order to have enough energy to accomplish very basci daily tasks.
Unless you are some very cruel diet or have an eating disorder, you probably have never experienced hunger of such a magnitude. Those of us who have pets, feed our dogs and cats more than over half of the world's population have to eat.
Having said that, my sermon today is not primarily about dealing with world hunger. I call this to our attention because it is so easy for us to pray and trust God to provide our daily bread. We know that as relatively affluent Americans, we will always have enough; that we will never have to miss a meal because of need.
Consequently, we take this fourth petition for granted. We live on the presumption that our tables will always be set with more than enough and that there will always be a good supply in the pantry. But what if conditions were different. What if some global catastrophe caused a world wide famine and we along with the rest of the world had to depend on the generosity of others or the direct provision of God, just to stay alive, let alone have more than we need.
That was the plight that the children of Israel faced as they wandered through the wilderness. Although they did not like their situation in Egypt as slaves under Pharaohs regime, at least there they had ample food to eat and they always knew that this would be provided. After all how could they work if they did not eat.
Their response to Moses and ultimately to God was not surprising. They grumbled. Why have you brought us here to die. At least in Egypt we had food. Blah, Blah, Blah.
Having forgotten God's victory over Pharoahs army at the Red Sea, they were now a month away from that deliverance. The next trial they had faced was the bitter water at Marah. God again heard their cries and interrvened, making the bitter water sweet.
Now, they were hungry. Food supplies had run out. One author has rightly pointed out that "unbelieef has a short memory." How true that is. All of us tend to forget the hand of God's blelssing when we are going through a time of hardship. We take God's goodness and provision for granted but blame God when things don't go just right. Job addressed this when he asked "shall we accept Good from God but not trouble?"
Israel was always ready to accept God's provision but never seemed to be able to trust God when the provision was scarrce. And so they longed again for the fleshpots of Egypt which were the large cooking jars. They were a symbol of abundance. As long as a person had a fleshpot over the fire there was always food to eat. At least there we had pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted."
Now if you were God, how would you have responded? I think my response may have been something like this: "All right, you ungrateful, spoiled brats. Fine! You want to go back to Egypt. All right by me. Go ahead." But God told Moses, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The provision of the manna is a token and a test. It is a token of God's loving patience and faithful grace.
And so God, in longsuffering and loving patience, when he hears their murmurings, instead of punishing them, answers their cries. God gain seeks to win them with love and kindness rather than punishment Isn't it true that God is always at work to reveal himself to us who doubt? God is indeed concerned for our daily needs and our most basic of all needs and does not withhold that from us but gives it by his grace.
It is a test in that it requires God's people to trust him each day enough to follow his instructions. It is a test in that it was given daily and only enough for the day's needs to be gathered Notice vs 4. "that I may test them whether they walk in my law or not." God's provsions are fresh every morning and when we grow independant from that daily grace, we fail to see and love God. The manna is a test which teaches us about our daily and habitual dependence upon God. We, like the Israelites mistakenly think that over-abundance is God's favor. The flip side of that attitude is that want or need is somehow a sign of God's dis-favor. If that were so, then obviously over half the world's population ( a large percentage of which are believers) is completely out of favor with God. God's grace is fresh and new to supply daily need. There are some things that we cannot store up for tomorrow. That is exactly the teaching of Jesus in the sermon on the mount when he said not to lay up treasures where mot h and rust destrou and where thieves break in and steal. Lay up treasure in heaven. Food and material wealth are two primary examples of that.
Don't worry about tomorrow what you should eat or what you should drink. Tomorrow has enough worries of its own. This is a test that taught habitual and daily dependence upn God.
In the Gospel, we see this same idea at work. Jesus has provided a token of his provision by feeding the five thousand who were hungry with a minimal resource offered in faith. Isn't it interesting though that many did not consider that a significant sign. They wanted something more. And so they reminded Jesus, as if he didn't already know that their ancestors ate manna in the wilderness; implying that if Jesus were really from God he would equal Moses prowess by bringing downo such a similar bread. At that point Jesus puts the real test to them: The real bread of God is Jesus, the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world and then he delivers one of his great I AM statements: I am the Bread of Life.
As I said earlier, when we pray this prayer, it is usually not with the acute awareness of one who is starving to death. I would suggest that this then is the very reason that we should stop and think about this prayer carefully. I believe that there are 2 very significant lessons for us in this part of the disciples prayer.
It is Jesus that is the one of whom we partake today as we come to a time of communion.
Yes we are going to eat a piece of common bread but in our doing so, Jesus promised that he would be with us and that the bread itself is given as a lsting memorial to his body broken for us.
In the sacrament of communion, we are taking hold of Jesus spiritually. By faith we are coming to him for our spiritual sustenance and he provides it for us so that we are fed and we become stronger.
We have precious resources of God's grace that he has entrusted to us and we are called to share those with those who have need. We are to feed the hungry for in so doing we are feeding Christ because they are Christ's brothers. It is through us that the prayer for daily bread of some believer in anotherr part of the world may be answered.
In a recent Christianity today, Raymond Bakke who has devoted his life to ministry to the inner cities of the world was once accused of promoting a social gospel by an evangelical from an affluent suburban church. He pointed out to that person that he also was promoting a social gospel - the only difference between the two was that one was one of sacrificial Christian grace. The other was one of selfishly insulated complacency to the needs of the poor. Jesus identified with the poor and called his followers to do the same.
It is a false dichotomy to divide the social gospel from evangelism. It is also true that we have abundant life in Christ and we are also called to share that
So we must never forget that the primary task of the church in the world is to preach the Gospel. And so we have that daily bread of God's love and salvation in Christ and we are also called to give that away to others. The illustration that has often been used of evangelism is that it is one beggar telling another where to find bread.
This petition properly shows us how to regard the human body and its needs. We are not deify the body as if its pleasure and satisfaction were the highest good. Nor are we to debase them with false denial.
The Bible opposes all long faced asceticism by acknowledging that food, shelter, clothing, agility, health marriage and other material blessings should be delighted in because they are a token of God's grace and to delight in those gifts is our duty and service to God.
Rabbis once taught that at the judgement, God would hold against us every pleasure that he offered us and we neglected.
In C.S. Lewis' Screwtape letters, Screwtape himself disgustedly admits that "He (God) is a hedonist at heart. He values pleasure, and it is his pleasure to give pleasure."
Do we value the pleasure and satisfaction that God has given us.
Do we value that for other people ebough to include them in this prayer for after all is it not give us this day our daily bread.