Daily bread

Resting in the Routine

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For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” 1 Kings 17:14 ESV

Few men saw more miracles than Elijah. Fire falling from Heaven, people rising from the dead and parting the Jordan river with his cloak were just a few examples from his resume. But before the fire fell, Elijah spent over three years living in the tiny village of Zarephath. I am sure that to most people watching Elijah’s life seemed pretty routine. But in the middle of that routine, God was working a miracle every morning. Because the fire from Heaven, only fell once, but the flour and oil miraculously multiplied every day! Waters part in our lives when new chapters begin, but only the simple turning of many pages will tell the story that God is writing in our lives. We need to guard our hearts against ingratitude for our daily bread. God gives us mercies every morning to forgive our sins and neighbors in need for opportunities to show His love. So, today, let’s delight in how God stretches our jars of flour and jugs of oil to meet our needs and rest in His routine until a new chapter begins and He sends His rain upon the earth!

Prayer: Thank you Father, for the mercies you give and the daily bread you provide. We trust that you know how to begin and end the chapters of life and that you will keep us safely in the palm of your almighty hand!

Fresh Daily Bread

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

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

On cold Winter mornings when it was too dark to go to our job site, it was the perfect time to stop at Abe’s Bakery. Pushing open its doors unleashed the fragrance of fresh baked hard rolls mingled with the aroma of coffee. We quickly ordered, poured our coffee and headed out to the truck. There we hungrily devoured those rolls with butter still dripping from their edges, feeling richer than anyone else on earth. Abe’s fresh baked rolls, always remind me of the daily bread that Jesus taught us to pray for.

First, just as at Abe’s it pays to show up early to get the freshest rolls. If we just dive into our morning and then sometime later ask God for help, He still gives it but when we eagerly push open His door early, He treats us to the aroma of daily bread straight from Heaven’s oven! Secondly, no one on earth can give us anything better than what God has provided, so we should be thankful. Wishing we had what others have, only takes away the joy of receiving exactly what God has prepared. Lastly, just as we never worried if Abe would be making fresh rolls the next morning, Jesus wants us to know that when we pray that we can trust Him to give us His daily bread, new every morning and fresh every day!

Our Very Best Chapter is Now

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

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!