ASK FOR YOUR DAILY NEED!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY JANUARY 18, 02, 2022.

SUBJECT: ASK FOR YOUR DAILY NEED!

Memory verse: "Give us this day our daily bread." (Matthew 6 vs 11.)

READ: Exodus 16 vs 11 - 21:

16:11: And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

16:12: “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’’

16:13: So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all round the camp.

16:14: And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground.

16:15: So when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, “What is it?” For they do not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”

16:16: This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, “Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; ‘let every man take for those who are in his tent.’”

16:17: Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less.

16:18: So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need.

16:19: And Moses said, “Let no man leave any of it till morning.”

16:20: Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

21 So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

INTIMATION:

God relates with us on a "day by day" basis, hence His telling us to ask for our daily needs. In the Scriptures, God speaks on 'our days,' not 'our years.' "Our days" is used in the Bible over 85 times, but "our years" is only used or referred to about 5 times. “The years” is often used in reference to God. For instance, the psalmist in Psalm 102 vs 24 says, "I said, "O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days; Your years are throughout all generations."

God's provisioning is daily, not all at once. The reason God wants us to ask for our daily needs is because of our tendency to relegate God to the background if He allows us to have all our needs in one go. He is always testing us on a daily basis. This daily testing is necessarily because of His love and care for us; that we don't fall away from faith and trust in Him if He overloads us. By daily provisioning God is only helping us to remain focused on Him, not that He is miserly or that His hands are shortened that He cannot bless us exceedingly. 

Asking for your daily need puts you in the will of God, and He will oblige you with the need because He has already promised to meet our needs already known to Him. There is the likelihood that if we are allowed to store up His blessings, we might cut off communication with God. Therefore, we ought not to be self-satisfied. God is our “Source,” and we must remain connected to the “Source.” God wants us to completely depend on Him in everything. Depending on the provisions God has given us is idolatry, and He forbids that amongst His children.

In the passage we read today, the children of Israel in the wilderness had their daily supply of their needs: "Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." (Exodus 16 vs 4 - 5.) God never allowed them to be self-satisfied and forget their source.

Even when Jesus thought His disciples how to pray, He said they should ask for their daily need, as stated in our memory verse. When we ask in prayer for our daily need, we are acknowledging that God is our Sustainer and Provider. It is a misconception to think that we provide for our needs ourselves. We must trust God for our daily needs. 

The Scripture in Proverbs 30 vs 8 - 9 says, "Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches - Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You. And say, "Who is the Lord?" Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God." Solomon recognizes the attributes of man; in plenty man is likely to deny God, and in lack man will do anything to survive, including stealing which will eventually profane God's name. Hence the reason God wants to daily provide for us—dealing with us on a day-by-day basis.

There is the likelihood that our possessions will take our concentration and dependence on God because we are not in need of anything hence will remember less of God. It was for this reason that Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19 vs 23 - 24.) Our life is more likely to be effective if we have neither poverty nor riches, hence God's wisdom to deal with us day-by-day, so that we can rely on Him for the strength in all things.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are my Source of all things. Cause me not to put my trust on the gifts, instead of putting my trust on the Giver, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!