4. Give us today
While the first part of the Lord's Prayer is about God, our needs are the focus of the second part:
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Matthew 6: 11 – 13 [NIV]
While our needs are the focus here, Jesus' words show our absolute dependence on God.
Bread stands for all we eat and drink. Indeed, some have suggested that by bread, Jesus means all that is necessary for the preservation of life. And notice that it is daily bread we pray for. Praying the Lord's Prayer underlines our day-by-day dependence on the God who sustains the world.
In the second petition, we ask God to forgive us our debts; and our debts to him are our sins. They have been forgiven through Jesus' death for us on the cross. But the prayer continues, as we have forgiven. If we have had our sins cancelled – and they were so serious that only the Son of God could pay the price for them – then we ought also to forgive those who have wronged us.
And finally, we pray that God would not allow us to be tested beyond what we can endure. Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from the evil one are an example of Hebrew parallelism, saying the same thing in two different ways.
Praying the Lord's Prayer acknowledges our dependence on the Lord for all our needs: physical, spiritual and moral.
Pray as you can, for prayer does not consist in thinking a great deal, but loving a great deal. [Teresa of Avila]
Dear Lord, thank you that you provide all that I need. Help me to live each day in grateful and humble recognition of your love. Amen.
David Long
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