“God, please don’t forget us when you’re doling out daily bread.”  A couple years ago we might have prayed, “Lord, please remember to add your extraordinary rate of interest to our savings account, and MEGA-bless my retirement.”  But now many of us are back to hoping for daily bread again.  

While having a stocked savings account and something to fall back on was pretty nice, there is something more genuine and, I dare say, faithful about the prayer for this ONE day.  When we take tomorrow for granted, we start living tomorrow a little before its time.  We spring into the day-after-today, embracing its worries and challenges before they’re due.

When I stare at my meager and still-shrinking bank account, I wonder if tomorrow will come.  What can I do to make tomorrow happen?  Strangely, the sun always rises the next day.  Stranger still, there is always a loaf of bread and a bag of rice in the cupboard and some coffee grounds in the canister, though the coffee is of a much lesser quality.

Most of us don’t accel at dependence.  We recoil at it.  The lady on food stamps at the grocery store – we have a solution for her more often than we have compassion.  The first thing that pops into many of our minds when we get behind this woman in the check-out queue is telling.  We are self-reliant.  “I built this.  I made this money.  You can too.”  While that is partly true, it robs us of the thankfulness that might otherwise exist if we’d realize the simple miracles that happen every day.

The Bible tells a story about the Red Sea parting.  I know, a parted sea is a bit different than daily bread.  But there was a discourse, a prayer if you will, between God and Moses before the sea split.  God said, “Moses, stretch out your rod.”  The rest was in divine hands.  I’m glad it was Moses.  I’d have screwed it up and tried something else.  But the only option he had was dependence.

I have friends who love to pass around blame for the economy.  “It’s Bush’s fault!  It’s the democrats fault!  It’s corporate greed!”  Hey, if we spend our time pointing fingers, we’ll miss a valuable lesson in dependence and thankfulness. “Yeah, but…” you interject, crowding out the quiet voice that just might be trying to penetrate your heart!

“I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.  He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing” (Psalm 37:25).  Something about the righteous man’s character is passed on to his children.  We’ll call it gratitude.  Let’s understand it as dependence.  What if we just passed on our complaints and blame?

Prosperity preaches well in a robust economy, a seduction that subtly replaces faith.

Have faith.  Do the work you’ve been invited to do, and see if bread makes its way to your cupboard.  The Red Sea was a huge miracle, but it was no more than daily bread.  Exactly what the Israelites needed on THAT particular day.

By the way: if you’re “feeling” this post, feel free to click on the link to the right titled, “Buy me a cup of coffee.”  It is a donation space allowing you to buy me $2.50 worth of bread!  Thanks in advance.