While visiting the country of Haiti a couple of years ago, one of my sons and I visited the marketplace with several others, to purchase some food. Our hosts were telling us about the various food and other goods for sale. Many of these products in the market weren’t that different from what one might see in a grocery store in the United States or Europe. Other elements of the marketplace were reminiscent of open-air or street-side markets elsewhere in the world.
One particular item offered for sale caught my eye, though. Throughout the market, there were various little bags of grain, pasta, or beans, each bag having a common pattern of red and transparent stripes. Our host explained that these were single-meal portions of food. Each of these bags had enough to make a single meal – typically cooked into a sort of soup.
This was a far cry from a culture of pre-made, single-portion meals, manufactured for convenience. These were for families that would visit the market daily, and might only have enough money to purchase enough food for a single meal.
To me, this day-to-day shopping is a lot closer to what Jesus was talking about in Luke 11:3, especially when compared to what those of us with plenty of food in the cupboard might think of when reading this verse.
‘Give us each day our daily bread.
Luke 11:3 NASB
Whether you live in Haiti, Houston, or Hamburg, I realize that you may be in the same sort of situation. Maybe you don’t know how you’re going to get enough food to eat tomorrow. Maybe you don’t know where you’re going to sleep; or what you’re going to do when you wake up in the morning and find that your pantry, refrigerator, or wallet is still empty. Maybe you know that time will run out on your contract, agreement, or other arrangement tomorrow, and you’re just not sure what to do.
I won’t promise to have the answers, but I do know that God provides for countless Haitian families, day after day; and that He can provide for us when we don’t see the solution. The Bible has many examples of this, but one is the provision of God for a widow in a town named Zarephath, recorded in 1 Kings 17:8-16.
Your oil jar may run out, and you may be hungry tomorrow, but wherever you may be, I pray for you – that God will provide your daily needs. If your daily needs are being met already, why not pray that same prayer for those who just need bread for today, and consider how you can share your excess with those in need?
For more reading on a related topic, see also Modern-Day Manna.
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
Those Who Sin Differently 
Indeed we ought always to be praying for those who have to struggle for their very livelihoods, and that our Lord would lead us to those he would have us help in that provision. The last 2 or 3 years, whenever I think of “Give us each day our daily bread,” my thoughts go not only to food for this life, but also to Jesus’ words in John 6:35: … Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.” Whether we have enough daily food to sustain this life, in Jesus we have daily bread toward eternal life.
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Indeed, this is the eternal perspective that has kept many – who are physically hungry – filled with hope. John 6:35 is from a great chapter in John, which starts with Jesus providing actual bread for the people, but leads to this even more important message: that Jesus can provide what we need for eternal life, as well. It’s a bit of a long chapter, but one I can recommend to both those who know Jesus and those who don’t yet know what He is about. Thanks for pointing it out, today.
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