Finally!  More than halfway through the model prayer, we have a chance to talk about ourselves.  We finally have a chance to make our requests of God.  Our rela­tionship with him, of course, is virtually defined by our dependence and his gener­osity.  By his creative power, he is entirely responsible for our existence and it is only by his continued providence that we continue to live.  Because God is omnis­cient, omnipresent and omnipotent and because we are limited, fragile and inade­quate, we must, of necessity, rely on God for all things.

Paul eloquently describes the situation in his speech before the philosophers in Athens.

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.  (Acts 17:24-27)

Even as we recognize the majestic and eternal qualities of God, we acknowledge the frailty and inconstancy of ourselves.  James describes our lives as a mist (James 4:14) and Job compares us to a mere breath (Job 7:6) or a fleeting shadow (Job 14:1).  It is remarkable that God attributes any significance to our existence, yet the Scripture tells us that God places a high value on us.  The psalmist declares himself “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) and praises God for his infinite presence and unfailing care.  We join with David in our amazement –

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?  You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.  You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.  O LORD, our Lord, how ma­jestic is your name in all the earth!”  (Psalm 8:3-9).

And, as if such were not enough, Peter writes of an even greater gift –

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and good­ness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”  (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Inasmuch as prayer is a gift to us, an opportunity to move into a deeper and more intimate relationship with God, this portion of the model prayer, like those we have already studied, is an appropriate time of focus.  In it, we are properly aware of our absolute reliance on God for all things.  We are mindful of his kind and beneficent provision for our every need (cf Romans 8:28).  Yet, still we feel the need to bring our requests to him.

We are not faithless in this.  God knows just how we are made and he knows our propensity for worry.  We have the tendency to take for granted much of what is needed for our life and happiness while, at the same time, experiencing debilitating levels of fear and fretfulness over matters no more or less within our control.  Even in this, however, God offers himself as the answer.  He calls on us to cast our cares on him (1 Peter 5:7).  In so doing we not only express our faith in his loving provision, but also are released from the “duty” of our worry.  This process of bringing our requests to God speaks to our awareness of his attention to our needs, his care for us, and his power to accomplish feats both great and small on our behalf.  Paul explains that we can be free of anxiety, in every circumstance, if we go to God in prayer with our requests and petitions, with thanksgiving.  In place of fear, God will bring a peace beyond our understanding, which will guard against both our worried thoughts and our anxious feelings.  (Philippians 4:6,7)  As is always the case, this peace is found in Christ Jesus, who is himself our peace.  The perfect expression of God’s love, Jesus sets us free from anxiety because “There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.           We love because he first loved us.”  (1 John 4:18-19)

Although Jesus makes room in his model prayer for our petition, it is narrowly defined.  In his model, Jesus says, “Give us today our daily bread.”  In the space of six short words he repeats twice that the need is for today.  God gives with largesse from his endless bounty, but he knows the seductive danger to us of material possessions.  The model prayer calls to mind the forty years that the Israelites wandered and were schooled in the desert.  They learned to trust God because he provided for them manna each day.  The bread would not keep from one day to the next (except for the Sabbath).  He gave them each day their daily bread.  At the opposite end of the spectrum is the farmer described in Jesus’ parable of Luke 12:16-21.  His barns were filled and he placed his trust in the many years of plenty ahead.  God calls him a fool because in his worldly wealth he failed to be rich toward God and he took none of the abundance of his possessions with him as he was called to eternity.

Jesus teaches us to pray for our daily bread because God desires for us to have an attitude of grateful generosity and openhanded abundance, based not on our wealth but on his provision.  The writer of Proverbs seeks the safety of this daily contentment.  “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.  Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, `Who is the LORD?’  Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.”  (Proverbs 30:8-9)

Paul summarizes both the danger and the ideal in his letter to Timothy.

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”  (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

Our Father

in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead in not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Matthew  6:9-13

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen