Living in the Shadow of His Hand

This Day

 

“Give us this day our daily bread.” – Matthew 6:11

When my son Lev was a little boy around 3 or 4 he had a hard time comprehending time.  The same day was good explained as “in a little while”, or “after supper”, but when it came to events in the future, he couldn’t grasp the amount of time until then.  I would say things like “tomorrow we are going to see MeMaw” and he would say with excitement “This day!!!”  I can still hear the way his voice would sound when he said it and see how his eyes would light up.  I’d then have to explain it as “no, one more sleep, and then we go”.  He lived in the NOW.  He had no cares, no plans that he himself made, no concerns of what was next, and he was happy. 

When Jesus was showing the disciples how to pray in Matthew 6, He instructed them to pray “Give us THIS DAY our daily bread.”  He didn’t tell them to pray “...and every day after that” or “…and enough that I can retire”.  THIS day.  Just one day at a time.

God can be trusted with our future.  It’s not ours to worry about.  He still has our time in His hands.  We need to learn to trust Him for THIS day.  Living with your mind on the future will cause you to miss the present, and worry over the future will spoil and rot the days away.  THIS day is a gift to be enjoyed, even more so because it is the Sabbath day.

When God fed the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness, manna would fall from Heaven six days a week.  On the Sabbath day, no bread would fall from Heaven. But on the sixth day twice as much would fall from Heaven so that He provided for the Sabbath a day ahead. 

When they gathered bread, they were instructed to take enough for only that day.  If they took more than they needed and tried to hoard it away, it would stink and be filled with worms.  But on the sixth day, they were instructed to gather enough for two days.  And that bread, on the seventh day, would not stink or be filled with worms.  Even in the wilderness, God was teaching them to take a day to rest, and trust Him with their future needs.  But some of them just couldn’t stop gathering.  We’re not much different today.

In Exodus 16:27-30 we read, “Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.”

Every day for 40 years God did as He promised and fed them, and gave them an example of resting on the Sabbath.  God didn’t need rest, but He knew we did.  Don’t let His example go unnoticed. 

THIS day…rest.  Take off your watch.  Stop worrying over the week to come and years to come.  Those have yet to be given to you.  Today, just rest.