“Oh, that’s just Penelope,” the hostess replied as she hurried to the kitchen, leaving us in an awkward position.

We had just finished a romantic dinner at our favorite restaurant in the mountains around Beaver Creek, Colorado. Lynne reached the door ahead of me, looked out, and then turned to me and said, “You need to see this!” I looked out the glass portion of the door to see the biggest porcupine I had ever seen (outside of an African wildlife documentary) standing at the door.

As we pondered our next move, the hostess returned with a large loaf of sourdough bread. She went out to the corner of the front deck, Penelope waddling behind, where she placed the loaf of bread for Penelope to eat. I was getting a sense of how she attained her huge size.

Heading to our condominium, we reflected on how this one porcupine decided to endear herself to the owners of a five-star restaurant and stuff herself with sourdough bread for the remainder of her days.

I was reminded of Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26, ESV)

God has created a world where each and every creature has provision made for their needs.

Sadly, many Christians doubt their heavenly Father’s provision for them. However, Scripture makes it clear He has promised to do so.

So, where’s the rub? I think it comes from our hesitation to ask — as if our request is somehow going to inconvenience the Creator of the universe.

Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His disciples to pray like this: “Give us this day our daily bread.” (6:11) While it is true that our “Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8), the focus of this passage from what we call The Lord’s Prayer is that we come every day asking Him for “our daily bread.”

The biblical illustration for this is found with the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness. Every morning, God provided manna for them.

“It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’ And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.” (Exodus 16:15-18)

If someone decided to save the manna so they wouldn’t have to gather it the next day, they would be disappointed to find it had rotted overnight (vv. 19-20).

Today, we have refrigeration, so we don’t need to go grocery shopping every day. But I was convicted by this passage. How often do I take for granted God’s provision because my refrigerator and freezer are adequately stocked?

God asks us to pray daily for our “daily bread” because He desires that we meet with Him on a daily basis. If I truly love God, it is my desire to meet with Him every morning.

Tomorrow morning, I am purposed that I will begin to ask God for my “daily bread.” If Penelope knows to come daily for her “sourdough fix,” should I not be just as ready to come asking my Father for my daily bread?

What say ye, Man of Valor?
Semper Fidelis!