Part 7 of “Learning to Pray to Our Father”

Asking for bread changes what bread is. It is no longer just bread, but it becomes bread given. The bread itself is a gift.

When the Israelites grumbled against God in the desert because they did not have enough to eat, God gave them bread: “I will rain bread from heaven for you” (Exodus 16:4). It was bread from heaven, it was bread to sustain them on their journey, and it was their daily bread. They called it manna, which literally means “What is it?” (16:15). They would learn through practice that this bread was not just bread: it was an education in trust, an invitation to cling to the Lord, and a lesson in what it means to welcome him.

There were three conditions for receiving this bread: first, the Israelites had to gather the bread daily; second, they could only gather what they needed, not an excess to store; and third, they could not gather on the Sabbath but instead had to gather a double portion the day before. Was God being stingy or difficult? No. The point was not just that they receive the bread they needed but rather that they recognize that it was bread given to them. They were receiving from the hand of God.

If you do not ask daily, you forget that your life is in fact sustained daily and that very little of that is by your own doing. If you store up an excess, you can become self-satisfied and begin to rely on yourself: you stop asking for what you need. And if you are really going to trust in the one who gives you what you need, you will listen to his word and gather double when he says “double” and not at all when he says “not at all.” The Israelites ate manna in the desert, but they did not live on bread alone. They lived on bread given––given according to God’s will.

To ask God for bread is to do more than seek bread as your daily sustenance. It is to ask God to be a Father to you, and it is to trust that he will respond to you as his beloved child.

What man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? . . . If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:9, 11).

The bread is not the point; God’s paternal and providential care for you is the point. Disciples become like Jesus when we trust his Father to be our Father. And by asking, we receive (see Matthew 7:8).

Practice praying: I invite and challenge you to pray the Lord’s Prayer each day this week. In fact, pray it twice each day. Pray it once, then spend several minutes pondering the significance of the words “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread.” Remember that when we ask for what we need daily, we are asking a Father who loves us. Focus on him with this petition, trying to meditate on his will to provide for us. Take a few minutes to write your thoughts in a prayer journal. Then pray the Lord’s prayer again.

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Find more: This series draws on sections of my book Into the Heart of the Father: Learning from and Giving Yourself through Christ in Prayer. I am grateful to my publisher, Word Among Us Press, for allowing me to share these sections with you here. If you are interested, I hope you will check out the book – I think you’ll like it.

Study and pray with others: I have also designed a reading, prayer, and discussion guide for groups that would like to read the book and learn how to pray better together. This is ideal for parishes, schools, and families.