The Gift of Ordinary Days - Your Nightly Prayer- January 14th
The Gift of Ordinary Days
Your Nightly Prayer
by Kyle Norman
TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE
“Give us today our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11
SOMETHING TO PONDER
Does God only work in the miraculous and the extraordinary? It can be easy to believe so. After all, that’s what we see in scripture, isn’t it? We see Moses confronted by a burning bush, Jonah swallowed by a big fish; Elizabeth miraculously pregnant, and the disciples witnessing majesty after majesty as they journey with Jesus. Clearly, when we get closer to God, we experience wonders beyond compare, right?
But then why does our life of faith sometimes seem so ordinary? Do you ever wonder why you don't witness miracles on a regular basis?
One of the things that we can easily forget is that these grand and miraculous moments are mere blips on the radar. Our walk with God, most of the time, is routine, normal, and maybe a little bit boring. In fact, when we look at scripture, we see an amazing thing. The miraculous often occurs in the middle of the mundane, as God’s power transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. Perhaps this is why the central petition of the Lord’s prayer is not “Give us today our special bread”, but “Give us today our daily bread.”
When we think of this verse, we often focus on the bread itself. Jesus’ use of “daily bread” here is a riff on the gift of Manna in the desert. Just as God provided what Israel needed as they journeyed to the promised land, so too, Jesus will give up what we need as we walk in faith. And so, we think of God’s gifts of food, water, or shelter.
But instead of focusing on the bread of provision, I wonder if we are called to focus on the word “daily.” Within this prayer, Jesus calls us to pray that we experience His power in the context of everyday life. Each morning, we rise to a day lived in the presence of God. Our Lord never leaves us abandoned; The Holy Spirit is never idle. This prayer reminds us that the day before us, and the moment surrounding us, is one where we can encounter the living God.
God’s presence in the ordinary is a lovely gift of grace. If we believed that our experience of God was reserved for the high moments of spiritual ecstasy, then we would inevitably conclude that God was disconnected from normal life. God would only be interested in special people, for special tasks, in special circumstances.
But this is not how God works. God’s power can be met by ordinary people, on ordinary days, as we do our ordinary tasks. God’s love is so rich that God joins us here.
Yes, there are times when God comes in miraculous ways, in burning bushes or with the announcement of angels. We may even be graced to experience some of these moments. But these things don’t occur all the time, and so chasing after them leads us to discouragement. The lack of the extraordinary doesn’t negate God’s presence or work within you.
This is the truth: God meets you where you are, and in what you experience. God dwells in the normal and the routine. In the hum-drum places of life, you are invited to feast on daily bread and thereby meet the living God.
YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER
Precious Jesus,
You are the living bread, the bread that I need to journey in faith. I thank you that your presence dwells with me in the intricate moments of my day. As complicated and turned around as my life can be at times, still, you are faithful.
Lord, help me quiet myself so that I can notice the movement of the Spirit all around me. Turn my attention away from the grand and the miraculous and open my heart to the gift of your presence in this moment. Help me hear your voice as you speak about the things of my life: my daily tasks, demands, and obligations. Give me the boldness to share your gift of daily bread with others.
This I pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON
1. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus asks us to pray for God’s will to be done before we pray for our daily bread. How does our prayer for God’s kingdom to come take precedence in our lives?
2. During the Exodus, Manna was given each day as a symbol of Israel’s trust in God’s provision. How can you express your trust that God will provide each day?
3. Daily bread denies a spirit of scarcity (i.e., we believe there will be enough) and a spirit of excess (i.e., we don’t hoard our bread). Do you believe that scarcity or excess is a bigger temptation today?
Photo Credit: © Unsplash/Toa Heftiba
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