He Knows When We Need Bread.

“Give us today our daily bread” is to warn us against greed. The purpose of this petition is to teach us gratitude. God loves gratitude; He hates ingratitude. The psalmist learned gratitude. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good” (Ps. 106:1). “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good” (Ps. 107:1). “Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful” (Heb. 12:28). Learn to be thankful for the smallest thing. And then tell Him! When ten lepers were miraculously healed by Jesus, only one came back to Him to say, “Thank You.” Jesus’ immediate comment was, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?” (Luke 17:17). God notices when we are thankful and when we are not (or forget to tell Him).

Never, never, never take for granted all the good things God provides us. Where would we be without food, shelter, clothing, job, friends, emotional support, health, sleep, gifting to do our job? We are dependent every day.

A personal account of what God can do with daily bread

In 1962–1963, Louise and I lived in Ohio, where I was a pastor of a small church. We went through a very difficult time. The treasurer had to cut back on our salary, which was never adequate in the first place. We had no money in the bank. We wondered how we would make it through the day. That very day a gift came in the mail from someone we had not seen in years. An old friend wrote to say, “My wife woke up thinking of you and felt we should send you this check.” This is something that only God could make happen. God is never too late, never too early, but always just in time.