Little by Little and Daily Bread

On this Exodus road trip, I’ve noticed that we need to only collect as much food as we can eat in that one day. There’s no extra room in the cabin of the vehicle for extra snacks. There’s no sense in bringing boxes of leftovers hours down the road in 100 degree weather either. So we are literally only able to gather enough food for the day and can keep no reserves.

I can’t help but think of the Israelites again as they left Egypt. God sent them manna from heaven. It was light like a wafer and sweet like honey. The Lord gave them instructions to only gather the manna they needed for each day and no more. But some didn’t obey and brought back extra, and it rotted with maggots in the morning.

It’s hard for us to actually live day by day, step by step with the Lord. We get used to Costco sized portions and bulk quantities and well-stocked pantries and fridges. In abundance, we easily forget just how much we depend on God for every provision and every day.

Exodus 16:18 explains that “whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack.” That reminds me of a verse I lived off of for years of sleep deprivation… That those who trust in the Lord lack no good thing. We need to get to a place in faith where we believe we lack no good thing and God provides our every need.

I always wondered why Jesus prayed, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Part of me is like, ‘Well, of course God will feed his kids each day so do we even need to ask?’ Another part of me wonders if Jesus prayed for daily bread because it was like a parable for God’s word. How we need to be in His Word daily, to nourish, strengthen and sustain us. Even when we can only gather a little bit of God’s Word in our hearts in the morning, just that little can sustain us all day. A little daily is always better than none.

I also wonder if Jesus prayed this to be an example of how to pray for daily bread so that we would know to ask for and notice when God provides our daily needs. And so we would stay tethered to Him daily, not storing up and then only going back to Him when we run out.

Regardless of why Jesus put daily bread in the Lord’s prayer, it always reminds me of manna. Just what we need for the day. It’s like how Jesus teaches us to not worry about tomorrow and only focus on today.

What if we really took one day at a time with the Lord? One step at a time.

When we bring God’s presence into our present moments, that’s when our past gets healed and our future gets ordered. When we invite God’s presence into our every moment, healing, peace, joy, and hope overflow in us and we bring heaven to earth, little by little, step by step. Daily. Like daily bread.