Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11 KJV

As we grow older often our tendency is to look back at past chapters in our lives and wistfully wish we could relive them. We think of how much energy we had when we were younger, forgetting our doubts, fears and impatience with others. We were always in a hurry but often getting nowhere. Or perhaps we look a little later, remembering fondly how we held our babies or walked our toddlers to their first day of school.  But God has an entire novel to write in our lives and though our earlier chapters were needed to build the plot, He has no desire to include them in the climactic ending of His story line.

In today’s verse where Jesus told us to pray for our daily bread, He was referring to the days when the people of Israel were wandering for forty years through the desert. They had no crops to harvest or village markets to purchase food in. Instead, God provided them every morning with one day’s supply of a Heavenly food called manna. It was said to have the sweetness of honey and the lightness of wafer. (A true angel food cake!) God also provided some rules about the manna. There was to be no gathering extra. Those who chose to disobey found that by nightfall it turned rotten and had worms crawling around in it. Yuck! But on Friday they were told to gather for two days so they could rest on the Sabbath. That manna stayed good for two days. God was determined to teach them the same lesson we need. We should not waste time and effort piling up manna and missing the living we should be doing with those around us. By tomorrow, yesterday’s manna will stink! We must always trust that each morning God will give us what is best, and that it will be what is the very best for us. He hasn’t forgotten us, and the very best chapter that He is writing in our story is now!