Luke 11:3 3Give us each day our daily bread.
Verse 3 gives a simple petition for provision. The verb voice switches from third person to second person, making this a direct address to God. God willingly and lovingly gives to those who come to him in humility and submission. The tense of the verb is present, implying that this is a prayer we should give every day and that God will continually give what we need. We need to look to God for our basic necessities.
The difficult interpretative element of this verse is the word daily (epiousion), which is found in only three places in Greek literature, all related to this prayer: here, Matthew 6:11, and the ancient teaching document called the Didache. It appears that the word was created just for this prayer. There have been three major ideas of its meaning: 1) bread that is necessary to live, 2) bread that will be for the coming day, 3) bread for the today. The traditional interpretation of daily is vague enough to include these possibilities. God will provide bread for each day.
The other keyword is bread. Bread was a basic food for many ancient people, but it was universally available in all parts of the Mediterranean region. Obviously, people ate other things, including meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables, or whatever was available and they could grow or catch. The word can function as a synecdoche that represents all food necessary for life. God provides what we need, not what we want.
The challenge with this verse is that there are hungry Christians in the world. This prayer sets the direction in life of trusting God, even if the way before us is difficult. Paul the Apostle knew about being hungry at times (1 Corinthians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 11:27), but that did not keep him from trusting in God. Can we trust in God even when the daily provisions are lacking? As Jesus said, spiritual food is more important than physical food. And he is the Bread of Life who can provide this food for us (John 6:35).
For older posts, click here.