By Pastor Anthony Scott
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.”
Exodus 16:4
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
Matthew 6:11
These two verses depict one of the main issues in our life today: How do we live our lives with foresight and planning while at the same time living each day with trust in God? How can you and I perceive our spiritual life as a long spiritual journey and invest our lives with confidence in this day for the future? At the same time, how can we neither live in the past nor live in the future so that the present day is not totally wasted in anxiety over the future and guilt over the past? God speaks to us about different kinds of days that we have. There is a day of desire. There is a day of difficulty. There is day of decision.
In our day of desire, God saves us from being imprisoned by our desire. Often it is our unmet desires that cause us to have temper tantrums with God. When we express our desire to want or need something right now it usually means we want it in the middle of now. Like us, the Israelites went one step further. They not only expected it now, but they expected to have a surplus so they wouldn’t have to depend on God later. Jesus said, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Trusting God for our daily provision is how God determines whether He is God or our desire is God.
When the day of difficulty comes, God provides us with strength and wisdom for resolving our difficulties on a day-by-day basis. Jesus in addressing the anxiety of our heart says, “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself, each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). There is a difference between wise planning and being overwhelmed by worry.
There will be times when we feel like we cannot go on another day. We feel like we have simply had it. Well, we may not be able to go on another day, but we can go on this day. God provides us with the strength we need for this day. There is no stress or temptation that will come our way for which God will not provided a way through so we will know that He is God.
Finally there comes a day of decision. Will we trust God for today? This is a question that can only be answered if we have trusted God for eternity. It was Paul who said, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32)?
It has been said that faith in God is a candle put into our hands by God through Jesus Christ. If we have the courage to take the step today in our faith commitment to Jesus Christ, His promise is that we will have the light we need to take the step tomorrow.
