"Give Us"

Amen, choir, thank you. Makes me want to jump to the doxology of our prayer in Luke chapter 11. But if I did that, you'd miss out on the blessing that God has for you today in the phrase, give us this day our daily bread. You know, there are certain phrases in the Bible that kind of stick with you. Certain phrases in the Bible that mean a lot to some of us. But there are certain phrases that we kind of take for granted, that we really don't even think about very often. And today is one of those phrases.

A phrase that we know because it's located in the disciples' prayer in Luke chapter 11, Matthew chapter 6. It's a phrase that helps us understand our great God. And this phrase, give us this day our daily bread, is a phrase that unlocks for us some of the wonderful treasures of our God and what's in his word. And explains to us something that, for the most part, most of us never really get to see and understand. And so today you're in for a blessing, a unique blessing, because God will unveil for you what that phrase means, give us this day our daily bread.

We have been studying the disciples' prayer. Disciples that ask the Lord, teach me or teach us how to pray. And they wanted to know how to pray as John's disciples learned from John how to pray. Mainly because the prayers of those days were so filled with hypocrisy and so filled with veinless repetition. A lot like people's prayers today, very repetitive, very hypocritical. And yet these disciples wanted to know how it was they were to pray, how they were to commune with their God. And so we're learning along with them how it means to commune with the great God of the universe.

How is it we truly sit down and begin to talk with our God. And so that's what we're looking at. And we began weeks ago by looking at this prayer, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And we told you that prayer begins, listen carefully, prayer begins by being confident, confident in the paternity and the pity of our God, our Father who art in heaven. All about His paternity. He is our Father and He cares for us. He is the one who dwells in heaven and yet He has pity upon His children.

And so if I'm ever going to commune with God, I must go to God in the way that Jesus Christ has prescribed for us to go to Him in the model prayer, our Father who art in heaven. Prayer begins with a concern or yeah, with a confidence in the paternity and the pity of God the Father for His children. And then prayer moves to being consumed with His preeminence and His purity. Hallowed be thy name on earth as it is in heaven. The child of God is consumed with the preeminence of God. So much so that the purity of God is, is, is His concern.

It's what's uppermost in His mind. And so when we go to prayer, we go to prayer confident in the paternity and the pity of our Father who is in heaven. We go to prayer consumed with the preeminence and purity of our Father who is in heaven. And we go to prayer, we go to prayer concerned with His program and its purposes. Thy kingdom come. I'm concerned with His program, not my program. I'm concerned with His purposes, not my purposes. And so when I go to prayer, I am calling for God's kingdom to come to this earth as it is in heaven.

I'm looking for God's rule to happen in this earth as it happens in heaven. I'm asking God to rule in my life on this earth as He rules in heaven. And then when I pray, I pray committed to the plan of God and its pleasure. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I am committed to God's plan over my plans and the pleasure of God's plan, the desire of God's plan as He seeks for His desire to be done in my life here on earth as His desire is accomplished always in heaven. And that's where we are.

That's where we've left off. A prayer that's consumed with God and His glory, a prayer that's all about God and not about us. It's about His preeminence, His purity, His plan, its purpose, His program, His paternity, His pity. It's all about God. That's where prayer begins. And then once God is recognized and put in His rightful place, then man begins to talk about his needs. But even in talking about his needs, it's all still about God. We go to God and we ask Him to give us, to forgive us, to lead us, because we want God to be instrumental in all of our lives.

But as we ask God to give us to stay our daily bread, we truly are rejoicing in His provision. When we ask God to forgive us our debts as we forgive those who have transgressed against us, then we truly are learning to respond to His pardon. And when we ask God to lead us not into temptation, but to deliver us from evil, we are asking and praying that we rest in God's protection so that we can react with praise and honor and glory to His name as we say, as the prayer says, for thine is the kingdom, for thine is the power, for thine is the glory forever and ever and ever.

Still, even when we talk about man and his needs, it's really truly all about God and His purposes. This is God's pattern for prayer. If you begin to pray the way God has assigned you to pray, you will never, never get off your knees without an answer. You won't, because God always answers those who pray according to His what? His will. What's His will? That you pray the way He has assigned you to pray. And so we are learning how to pray God's way. I mean, wouldn't that be good to pray the way the Lord prayed?

To understand how to commune with His Father in heaven? We want to commune with our Father in heaven. And so we're learning how, how to pray. Having said that, I want you to just look at four simple principles with me this morning.

That's it. Four simple principles that will allow this petition to come alive in your heart and in your life on a daily basis. Give us this day our daily bread. When you pray that, four things transpire, four things you're able to see, four things you're able to understand, four principles that need to come alive in your life. And number one is this, when you pray, give us this day our daily bread, it magnifies His sufficiency.

It magnifies His sufficiency. Give us this day our daily bread. It assumes that God will meet your needs. And it recognizes that man cannot meet your needs. So it magnifies His sufficiency. In other words, when the economist says all things are going to get worse, we don't worry because the economy does not provide for us. God does. Already your attitude about prayer is beginning to change, doesn't it? Because we think the, the economy governs our lifestyle, that the economy governs how it is we live our life.

No, it does not. Unless economy is your God. Because there is a God in heaven who gives us this day our daily bread. It magnifies His sufficiency. How? Well, we know that James 1 says that every good and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights. In other words, everything that you have comes from God. So when you pray, give us this day our daily bread, it truly magnifies that what you have, you have because God gave it to you. See, our problem in America today is that we really think that we earned what we have, that we deserve what we have.

We work hard to get what we have. No, no, no. Oh, it's important that you work hard. I'm all for that. I'm all for discipline. But you don't have what you have because you work hard. You have what you have because there's a God who is sufficient to give you all that you need. The unbeliever doesn't understand that. He thinks he lives in a world of autonomy, a world of independence. He did it. No, it's God who gives us this day our daily bread. In fact, over in Psalm 33, it says this, Psalm 33, verse number 18, behold, the eyes of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.

The Lord will keep you alive in the midst of famine. Over in Psalm 34, verse number nine, it says this, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Oh, fear the Lord, you as saints, for to those who fear Him, there is no want. Do you know, to those who fear God, there is no want. If you're wanting something today, maybe it's because you don't fear God. But because those who fear Him, there is no want. It says, the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.

That's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible says. Those who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. If you are in want of any good thing, ask yourself how, how desperately you are seeking the Lord. Because the Bible tells us God is the sufficient one of the universe. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs, the third chapter, these words, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce, so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

Honor God with your firstfruits and God will make your vats flow as they've never flowed before. That's a promise by God because He is the sufficient God of the universe. Proverbs 10, verse number three, says it this way, the Lord will not allow the righteous to hunger.

The Lord will not allow the righteous to hunger. The Bible says in Proverbs 30, Proverbs 30, these words, verse number seven, two things I ask of thee, do not refuse me before I die, keep deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be in want and steal and profane the name of my God.

The writer of Proverbs says very simply, look, I am asking Lord just for two things, one is that there be no deception, there be no lie, there be no lack of integrity in my life, that's number one.

Everything be done truthful, everything be done honest, that I live a pure and holy life before thee. Number two, number two, that you don't make me poor or you don't make me rich, that's good.

I don't want to deny your name Lord, I don't want to profane your name in any way and I don't want to be so rich that I forget about your name. Because you know riches has a tendency to do that doesn't it? We make some money and we think that we can make it without God and we live independent of God. The more money we make, the more we live apart from God. That's just natural in the income that we receive. The less money we make, the more dependent we are upon God. And yet the writer of Proverbs says, look, don't make me so poor that I profane your name, don't make me so rich that I forget your name.

In other words, the prayer give us this day our daily bread is about your needs, not about your wants, not about the luxuries of life, it's about the necessities of life. Paul would say in Romans chapter 8, these words, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? If God spared not his son to save your soul, then why would he not give you freely all things to enjoy? In other words, if we are going to honor God and to pray for his name to be hallowed on this earth as it is in heaven, for his kingdom to come to this earth as it is in heaven, for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, then we need to be alive to pray that, right?

So therefore, God says when you pray, pray this way, give us this day our daily bread. It magnifies the sufficiency of Almighty God. Later in the book of Luke, same chapter, Luke 11, we will get to this verse in a few weeks. It says in verse number 10, and verse number 9, and I say to you, ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Now suppose one of your fathers is asked by his son for a fish, he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

If he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? In other words, we are evil fathers and we give good gifts to our children. When they ask us, we give them what we possibly can give them within the realm of what it is we have. Well, if that's the case and we are evil fathers, how much more will your good father who is in heaven give you what you so desperately need?

It magnifies the sufficiency of God. He is a provider of all things. But number two, number two, when you pray give us this day our daily bread, listen to this, it measures, it measures our solidarity.

Not only does it magnify his sufficiency, but it measures our solidarity. Look what it doesn't say. It doesn't say give me this day my daily bread, does it? It says give us this day our daily bread. Oh, by the way, it says forgive us our debts. It says lead us not into temptation. It doesn't say lead me not. It doesn't say forgive me my debts. It doesn't say give me my daily bread. You see, when you pray this prayer, it measures our solidarity. It measures the unity and the oneness we have together as a family.

When Mae Hines called me this morning and told me about her husband going home to be with the Lord, she said, Pastor, I just want to say one thing about our church is that they have always been there for me and for my husband. They have taken care of us through this time. She goes, I can't thank the Lord enough for Christ's community church. You see, she understood, give us this day our daily bread. You see, when you pray that way, you put yourself at the disposal of God to be used in the life of somebody else.

Remember what Christ said in Matthew chapter nine? When he looked out over the harvest and saw that the harvest was plentiful, what did he say? He said, pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he might send forth laborers into the harvest. He didn't say, listen, the harvest is plentiful, therefore go. What did he say? He said, pray. Why? Because the minute you begin to pray, you put yourself at God's disposal to be used by him to go into the harvest. The minute you begin to pray, give us this day, our daily bread, you begin to put yourself at the disposal of everybody else who has a need.

You see this little phrase, give us this day, our daily bread opens up to us a whole new realm of living and praying. Give us this day, our daily bread. It encompasses the whole concept of giving and sharing. Oh, if time would permit, we could read over in Acts chapter two, verses 42 to 47, and over in Acts chapter four, verses 32 to 35, where those in the early church would sell their possessions and give to those who had a need, because they understood, give us this day, our daily bread. Over in the book of James, the second chapter, James chapter two, verse number 15, James says this.

He says, if a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warned and be filled. And yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body. What use is that? You see a need. You see a need. You say what? I'm praying for you, brother. That God somehow will meet that need. And you have your disposal, the opportunity to meet that need, and you don't. There's a problem. Is there not? That's why John would say in first John, that we are not to love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

If you see your brother who has a need, and you reach out and meet that need, then you know the love of God dwells within you. There's a unique verse, a verse that you probably know fairly well, but don't understand the ramifications of it. It reads this way, Ephesians chapter four, verse number 20, 28. Let him who steals, steal no longer, but rather let him labor. In other words, go to work. Okay. Performing with his own hands what is good. Okay. That's good. We can do that. Listen.

In order that he may have something to share with him who has a need. You know why God gives you a job? So you can help somebody who has a need. No, God gave me a job so I can save for my children's education. Oh no, He did not. Oh, He gave me a job so I can, I can have a retirement fund. No, no, He didn't do that either. Now I'm all for providing for your children. I'm all for setting money aside for your retirement fund, but God gave you a job so you can give to those who are in need. When God gives you a raise, He gives you a raise to see what you're going to do with the money you don't need.

So you can give it to somebody who has a need. See, we forget that. We think, oh, we got a raise. Let's say I can go on vacation this year. I got a raise or, or I got more money. I look what I can do now.

Instead of saying, how can I use this money to meet a need of somebody in the church who desperately needs to be taken care of? See the difference? Give us this day our daily bread. When you pray that, you are automatically putting yourself at the disposal of God to be used in the life of somebody else. Say, well, I don't have anything. Yeah, yeah, you do. You'll see that in a moment. You have a lot that God wants you to use in someone else's life because it's a prayer that deals with the family of God.

Point number three, when you pray, give us this day our daily bread. It manifests our dependency. It manifests our dependency. How easy it is for us to think that we earn the money we have, that we bought the house we live in. We bought the car we drive. We paid for our education. How easy it is for us to fall into that trap. And although our actions, our attitude might be different, that our actions might be different, the attitude speaks to the fact that I myself have done this good thing. That I did this.

That I was to accomplish something of supreme value. The clothes you have, the gas in your car, the food on your plate is all from God. But we don't look at it that way.

Truth be known, we look at it as if, well, I did this and I did that. We're kind of like Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel. Look at this great kingdom I built.

Look at it. It's just great. It's flowing with all kinds of wealth and beauty. And look what I did. And we have that attitude. Whether it's our business. Look at this great business I built.

And God says, hmm, I'm gonna take that business right from you. You didn't do anything. Look at this great church.

Take that church right from you. You didn't do anything. Look at this great family. I'm gonna take that family right from you. You didn't do anything. But see, we think we do do something. Now, I'm not trying to negate your responsibility to be faithful, responsibility to fulfill the duty that God has given to you. But what I'm saying is you do it with a balance that says, Lord, you gave this to me. You gave me the resources. Lord, you allowed me to do this. Lord, you get all the glory. It's all about you, Lord.

It's all about you, not me. That's, that's the point, see. That's the point. So many times we forget that God wants us dependent upon Him. Remember what the book of Deuteronomy says? Deuteronomy 8, verse number 18. It says, it is God who giveth you the power to get wealth. It's God who does that. Nobody else. First Chronicles 29, verse number 14.

All things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee. In other words, Lord, whatever we give to you, it's yours anyway. We're just giving it back to you because everything we have came from you. It is God's. My friend, we are, are dependent upon God for everything, not just some things, everything. In this little phrase, give us this day our daily bread, is that which truly manifests our dependency upon God. We are dependent upon Him for everything. You know, we, we teach our children to pray and, and to thank the Lord, right?

Before they eat. I mean, why? Because we want them to understand that what they have, they receive from the Lord. We teach them that. And when, when we, you know, I remember growing up as a kid going to a restaurant, you know, my dad used to always pray. My dad prays, he prays loud. He doesn't pray soft, he prays loud. Cause he, he just figures the whole restaurant needs to hear the prayer anyway. And I can remember growing up so embarrassed because my dad prayed so loud, you know? But, but I come to realize that, that my father had a unique testimony in the community in which we live, you know?

And I came to realize that, you know, when we, we go to a restaurant, you know, when I go to, you know, when I'm out with friends that are, are not believers, I just, I just sit down and say, you know what? Let's just take a moment to thank the Lord for, for what He's given to us. And they're like, you know, trying to get the food out of their mouth because they're already taking a bite, you know, and they're trying to be okay, you know? And I, and I say, you know, we just need to take some time out just to thank the Lord for, for the wonderful provision that He's given to us today.

Well, they're not used to doing that, but we pray and thank, you know, thank you Lord for, for how gracious you are to us. I know some people who don't pray in the presence of unbelievers, afraid they might lose their job, afraid they might be embarrassed, afraid they might, I don't know what they're afraid of, you know? But it's a great opportunity to, to draw that person into a conversation about the glorious gospel of Christ. Not only did He provide for us His Son, but provided all things for us freely to enjoy.

We serve a great God who wants us to be dependent upon Him for everything. Give us this day our daily bread. It's, it's, it's a daily thing. It's not give us this week our weekly bread. Give us this month our monthly bread. It's a daily thing because God provides on a, on a daily basis and He wants us to look to Him every moment of every day for everything. Over in the book of James again, James says it well in James chapter 4 when he says, come now you who say today or tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.

I'm going to start a business. I'm going to go to this city. I'm going to begin a new business. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we shall live and also do this or that. But as it is you boast in your arrogance, all such boasting is evil. Therefore to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it to him it is sin. You're to say, you know, if the Lord wills I will start the business.

If the Lord wills I will go to school. If the Lord wills I will have this job. If the Lord wills, if God wants me to do it, we will do it. But in our arrogance we, we make our own plans. We live independently of God. And when you begin to pray give us this day our daily bread it just, it just manifests your dependency upon him for everything. For, for everything. I mean, you know, when you, when you look at your life and, and all the things that we possess, I mean, it's God who gives us those things.

We thank him. It's almost like it's a prayer of gratitude. Lord give us this day our daily bread. And as you're giving it, Lord, I just want to thank you for what you've done. The ability to, to stand up, you know, sit down, to, to bend my fingers so, so, so I can write a letter. Or in this case, today's technology, use a computer, you know. That God has given us the, the wherewithal to think and to, and to be able to, to function. God has given us everything, my friend. And we so desperately need to depend upon him for everything.

So listen, when you pray give us this day our daily bread, it first of all magnifies his sufficiency.

That God is the giver of all things. Everything comes from him. He is the source of all that you have. If there's ever a time in your life where you forget that, your life will be in turmoil. Because God's going to get your attention some way or another to get you to realize, uh-uh, it's all from me. It's a phrase that, that really measures our solidarity. That we are one. We are family. We are together. And if the Lord wills, we have the opportunity to meet another person's need and to help them in ways that they would not be able to do something unless God used me or someone else in their life.

It's a phrase that manifests our dependency upon God every day, for every little thing that we have, because it all comes from him. The fourthly, it's a phrase that meets our necessity for each day. It meets our necessity for each day. Give us this day our daily bread. Remember what the psalmist said in Psalm 37, verse number 25, I have been young and now am old. I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. We read earlier where the Bible says in the book of Proverbs that the righteous will never suffer hunger.

Do you believe that? And yet we read the apostle Paul suffered hunger and thirst. So how do you reconcile that? If the righteous never suffer hunger and Paul was a righteous man, a lot more righteous than us, that's for sure. And he suffered hunger and he suffered thirst. But how do you reconcile that? Simply because when you pray this prayer, give us this day our daily bread, it meets our necessity for the day. The day. The day. Jesus is the bread of life. Is he not? He said, I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me shall never hunger. Right? He who feeds on me shall never hunger. He who drinks my blood shall never thirst. That's what Jesus said. Right? And so we need to understand how does God meets our necessity. Let me give you an example.

We know about the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, right? We know about what it's like when when Jesus was driven by the Spirit right after his baptism into the wilderness. And there he was for 40 days and 40 nights. No food. And Satan comes along and says, you know, why don't you take those stones and turn them into bread so that you can fill your stomach. You don't have to to hunger anymore. And what did Jesus say? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Right? Do you understand the implications of that that temptation in the wilderness? It goes way beyond just turning stones into bread. I mean, Jesus could do that if he chose to. Right? The essence of the temptation dealt with trust and submission. That he would learn to trust his Father and submit to the Father's will for his life. The temptation was, Jesus, you're the Son of God. You don't deserve to be in this situation. You deserve better than this. And your Father in heaven must not care enough for you to put you in the wilderness for 40 days, no food, and for you to be hungry like you are.

You can take matters into your own hand. You can take those stones. You can turn them into bread. You'll be satisfied and everything will be okay. And that temptation comes our way every day. Satan says, you don't deserve your situation. You lost your job. You don't deserve to have lost your job. You're a good man. You're a good man. You're a good Father. And you don't deserve this. Maybe your Father in heaven doesn't care enough about you to give you a job or let you keep your job. Therefore, take matters into your own hands and do what you can do.

You don't need to trust God. You don't need to submit to his will. Just do your own thing. And you know what we do? Boy, we get busy doing our own thing. We're floundering. We're floundering all over the place trying to get things done and nothing's working out. You ever been there? You are just working so hard. You're trying to make it work. You're trying to put it all together and it's not working for you. That's because you succumbed to the temptation of Satan. Take matters into your own hands.

You don't deserve this. You're better than that. You say, yeah, look at me. I'm better than that. I'm a good guy. As soon as you begin thinking you're a good guy, you don't deserve that, you have bought into Satan's lie. First of all, you deserve hell.

That's what you deserve. Okay? And you got what you got because God promises to meet your necessity, the needs of each day on a daily basis. That's why he said, take no thought for tomorrow. Because each day has enough trouble of its own. We're thinking about next week. We're thinking about next month. We're thinking about next year. And Jesus says, you know what?

This day, this day is what you gotta be thinking about. Entrusting me and dependent upon me this day for your daily bread. Now, Jesus is the bread of life, right? So it goes way beyond your physical necessities. Listen carefully. To your spiritual necessities. I'm a father. Many of you are fathers. And we tend to know what our children need. My wife's a mother. You mothers know what you need to give your children to eat, right? And so we, you know, if you have children like mine, they come and say, what's for dinner?

And we tell them what's for dinner. Now we know what they like for dinner. And we know what they don't like for dinner. They don't like broccoli. They don't like peas. They don't like anything, listen carefully, that's good for them. Do they? They call it junk food. You know, our whole lives are built on, you know, McDonald's, hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes. I mean, that's how we live our lives. I mean, you know, if McDonald's could turn you into something just by eating their food, we'd all walk around like a bunch of french fries.

But, but the bottom line is, is that, is that we know what they need. And so we're going to give them what they need. They may not like it, but they need it. How many times do we ask God to give us this day our daily bread? And we ask it this way, Lord, what's for this day? And the Lord says, this is for this day. And we like that. I don't want that. I want something else. I want what he has. I want what she has. I don't want this. But this is what you need from me today. We forget that. How many times do we, we just push away what God gives us.

Sometimes we need the bread of affliction, don't we? We don't like it, but it meets our necessity. Sometimes it's the bread of loneliness and isolation. We don't like that either. But God says, this is what you need.

Because you see, when it all comes down to reality, it's God who is shaping us and molding us into his image, right? He doesn't want to leave you the way you are. God forbid that we should remain the way we are. He wants us to be like him. So don't think for one moment that the bread of life that he gives for this day in your life is going to be nothing other than that which will help you become the man or woman that he wants you to be. So many times, we don't like the bread that Jesus, the bread of life, gives.

Alan Redpath has written a book on victorious praying. And he says this, when we pray, give us this day our daily bread. In effect, we pray, Lord, give me this day, Jesus, in all his strength to match my weaknesses, in all his patience to meet my haste and ferventness, in all his purity to meet my sin. Lord, give me this day, Jesus, my share of him who is on the throne, a risen, glorified master, our Lord. Oh, Father, give me this day, Jesus, in all his riches and power, beauty and glory, grace and love, meekness and patience.

Give me Jesus. None of us can utter that prayer and have it go unanswered. The petition expresses the conviction that he will supply today the greatest necessity of life, even Christ himself in our hearts. See that? Lord, give me you this day, my daily bread. And whatever you think I need today, Lord, you give it to me. Now, can you imagine getting up tomorrow morning and saying, Lord, give me this day, give us this day, our daily bread. And Lord, whatever you have for me this day, I accept it with gratitude.

I accept it with thanksgiving. I accept it with praise and honor, because you are the bread of life who is all sufficient, who asked me to depend upon you for everything. And so, Lord, as I pray, give us this day, our daily bread, I'm asking you to give me and everyone else I know, you. And whatever it takes that I might be just like you. Now the prayer takes on a different tone, doesn't it? We're not so sure we want to pray that, because we're not so sure where we're going to end up by the end of the day on Monday.

But in reality, that's it. You know, our God is so good. Israel is a perfect example of the goodness and graciousness of God. He gave, and He gave, and He gave, and He gave, and they still turned away from Him. And the Bible, the Bible is so, so good. Remember Psalm 106, verse number 15? It says very simply these words, I gave them their requests, but sent leanness to their souls. Folks, I know a lot of Christians today who have asked, and asked, and asked, and asked for the wrong thing. But God gave to them anyway.

And they are barren in their souls. There's a wasting disease in their souls. I gave them the desire of their hearts, but sent leanness to their souls. Didn't like what I gave you? No, I don't like that, Lord. What do you want? Well, I want this. Okay, good. You can have it. And see, it never fulfills. It never satisfies. I see this all the time in marriages. I don't want to be in this marriage, so I'm going to go after somebody else. And I'll be happy then. And they find a barrenness of soul, a dryness of soul, because that wasn't their need.

It wasn't a better marriage. It wasn't another husband. It wasn't another job or a better job. Those are just surface things. It's all about my relationship with the living God and dependent upon Him for everything. But God gave Israel the desire of the hearts, but sent that dryness, that wasting disease to their souls. God fed them daily. He gave them manna every day. Gave it to them. They don't like it. They get tired of it. We want something else, something a little bit more juicy, something a little bit more flavorful, something that tastes a lot better than manna.

We want something else. We don't like this anymore. People like that all the time. We don't necessarily want to admit that, but that's a lot of the ways we are. We don't like what God's given to us. The Bible says a very unique thing in two different phrases.

First of all, Jeremiah 5, 7 says this. God says, when I fed them to the full, listen, then they committed adultery.

Then they committed adultery. In Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse number 15 says, Israel grew grew fat. Then forsook the God who made him or made them. God says, I gave them.

I grew them. I did for them. I did for them. And the more I did for them, you know what they did? They turned around and committed spiritual adultery. They went after other gods. They sought after other individuals, something else to take care of them. They forsook the true and living God, and God just kept giving and giving and giving, and they turned their backs on him because they just weren't satisfied with what God gave them. Maybe you're sitting here today and you're not satisfied with the affliction today.

I can understand that. Maybe you're not satisfied with the bread of adversity, the bread of loneliness, the bread of joblessness, the bread of turmoil. That's not the bread you were bargaining for when you went and poured your heart out to God. And yet God said, this is what your Father in heaven knows you need, and I'm giving it to you because I know that when it's all said and done, you'll look just like me. You'll depend upon me. You'll trust me. You'll believe in me. You'll follow me with all your heart, and that's what I want you to do.

You trust me today, and then tomorrow when you get up, you trust me tomorrow. If the Lord wills, trust me on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, but trust me because I will give you your daily bread. I will supply your needs. I will take care of your physical sustenance, but I'm more concerned about your spiritual stability. I want you just like me. I want you dependent upon me. I want you longing after me. That's what I want, God says.

So that's our request. I hope that that's truly a heartfelt desire of yours. You want God's bread for your life. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the truth that you've given. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for how it is you work in our lives. You are a great God. May today, Lord, be a message that would ring in all of our hearts that we truly would trust you more and more each day. And if there'd be someone here today who does not know you as Lord and Savior, may this be the day of their salvation, where they give their life to the living God.

In Jesus' name, amen.