Saturday, April 21, 2012

day by day needs HE will supply…

now notice something.  two times in the space of six words GOD reminds us that this prayer, the LORD’s prayer is day by day.  HE says, give us today our daily bread.  notice it says, daily.

it’s the only time in the entire bible that this particular greek word is used.  in fact, this particular word baffled scholars and translators for a number of years because they couldn’t find any record of it in any of the ancient manuscripts, they couldn’t find it anywhere in classical secular greek literature.  it was nowhere to be found. 

until, in the 1940s when they discovered the dead sea scrolls where they discovered hundreds of fragments of the bible, they also discovered many secular writings.  and in those fragments was this word. 

now they discovered that this word was a word for a daily shopping list for that which was perishable and would only be good for today.  so what HE is showing is we are praying give us our daily rations.  not enough for tomorrow, not enough for next week.  but one day at a time. 

now this is hard for us to connect with this in our world because we not only have today’s food but tomorrow’s food and next week’s food setting in our freezer. 

listen, do we really need to buy toilet paper 48 rolls at a time?  well, if there’s ever a diarrhea epidemic you will be set! 

here’s the point.  in 21st century pinellas county daily bread is not much of a felt need.  it still comes from GOD and we shouldn’t take it for granted but there are other needs that we have that are more day to day. 

for some of you you have an emotional need that really is a day to day issue of whether or not you’re going to trust GOD. 

some of you are in a marriage relationship and for you right now the issue is not whether you will have food tomorrow.  the issue is can i trust GOD to keep my marriage together today.  for some it’s an issue of finances or it could be an addiction.  it’s probably not food that’s the day to day issue in your life.  but our need for GOD is still just as great. 

it reminds me of a prayer i read a while back.  “dear LORD, so far today i’m doing all right.  i’ve not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or self-indulgent.  i’ve not lied, complained, cursed, or eaten any chocolate.  i’ve not given into temptation and used my credit card once today.  but i’ll be getting out of bed in a minute and i think i’m going to need your help.”

there are issues in your life where day to day you have to trust GOD. 

just a thought from the front porch…

2 comments:

Lisa LaVergne-Pottgen said...

I wanted to thank you for posting this. This is something I really needed to hear today. I am having a rough time dealing with some things going on in my life, and it is always good to get a reminder to go back to God for the solution.

Bill Williams said...

you're welcome, lisa. thanks for the encouragement!