The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger! ” Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow My instructions. When they prepare what they bring in on the sixth day, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”
Exodus 16:2-5
It’s crazy to think that it had only been a few days since Israel’s miraculous deliverance from their years of harsh oppression and slavery under Pharaoh. But rather than lifting up prayers and petitions and presenting their requests to God Almighty, their compassionate and sovereign Deliverer who “heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob,” (Ex 2:24)... rather than singing songs of praise and thanksgiving to YAHWEH, who had lovingly provided for them, emancipated them, blessed them abundantly with the riches of their oppressors (Ex 12:35-36), parted the sea so they could walk safely across on dry land (Ex 14:21-22), and decimated the entire Egyptian army (Ex 14:28)... rather than any of that, the people chose instead to grumble and complain.
In the blink of an eye, the people had already begun to spin a new yarn by altering the narrative of reality. Rather than focusing on God’s vision and mission, “to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex 3:8) so they would be free to worship the LORD (Ex 3:12), they began reminiscing about those good ol’ days in the rearview mirror when they “sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted” (Ex 16:3).
They were just a few days into their journey and the nation of Israel had already initiated their toxic, deadly, and perpetual sin-cycle detailed throught the Old Testament (Judges 21:25, Nehemiah 9:26-31; Psalm 106:13; 2 Ki 17:7-23; Isa 1:2-20; Ezk 20). They readily diminished the evil and harsh oppression of their Egyptian taskmasters, who “worked the Israelites ruthlessly and made their lives bitter with difficult labor.” Meanwhile, they simultaneously neglected God’s glorious and gracious provision.
In Luke 11:1 we read, “One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’” Jesus’ response in 11:2-4 is typically referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer,” and comes on the heels of the story of Martha and Mary (religion vs worship). Matthew’s Gospel account contains a similar prayer in 6:9-13 with the context being that prayer is never to be a religious spectacle, but an intimate time of communion with God. The Greek word for prayer is proseúxomai (from Strong’s 4314 /prós, "towards, exchange" and Strong’s 2172/euxomai, "to wish, pray") – properly, to exchange wishes; pray – literally, to interact with the Lord by switching human wishes (ideas) for His wishes as He imparts faith ("divine persuasion").
In teaching His disciples (which includes you and me) how to “exchange wishes” with God, King Jesus was reminding us of the larger narrative of Scripture. God is our eternal and sovereign Creator. He chose to sacrifice Himself for us before the creation of the cosmos (Rev 13:8). We willfully chose to rebel against God despite His overt command and consequences (Gen 2:17). Despite our infidelity and rebellion, God has remained faithful - even to the point of our Heavenly Father sacrificing His Son for our benefit (John 3:16), and Christ Jesus willingly giving Himself away as the perfect Passover Lamb pierced for our transgressions (Isa 53:4-6).
The evidence of our genuine love, adoration, and worship of God isn’t anything as banal or profane as intellectual belief or detestable religion (the myriad of countless manifestations of human ideas and traditions). Instead, the evidence of our love, adoration, and worship of God is authentic faith in action through our joyful surrender of our wishes for His will/wishes, thus making His heavenly kingdom manifest here on earth: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
As the author of Hebrews wrote, “So also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.” Eagerly awaiting His return doesn’t look like conforming to the pattern of the world. It doesn’t look like health & wealth prosperity gospel. It doesn’t look like rejecting sound doctrine or waning devotion to God’s revelation and the Apostle’s teaching. It doesn’t look like everyone doing whatever they see fit to do in their own eyes. It doesn’t look like narcissistic egomaniacs, gossips, or divisive curmudgeons ripping Christ’s Body & Bride apart with their selfish agendas and theological camps.
Instead, eagerly awaiting His second coming looks like the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our lives and bearing the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. It looks like our putting on the FULL Armor of God (Eph 6:10-18). It looks like the humility of Christ (Phil 2:1-11) on display with each member of His Body - not volunteering - but devoted to doing their part with all their gifts to edify (build up) the Church (Eph 4:11-16) in unity.
The devil, Satan, has a plan that opposes God and His. Satan’s objective is to steal, kill, and destroy. He does this by masquerading as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14) and luring the foolish down the wide path that leads to destruction (Proverbs 7:6-23). Satan, God’s adversary and our accuser, lures us with the same hollow and empty lies he did as the serpent in Eden. When suffering and persecution come he lusts for our grumbling, complaining, doubt, rejection and cursing of God (Job 1:11). He wants us to focus exclusively on our “momentary light afflictions” (2 Cor 4:17-18), while God desires to use them for our sanctification (Rom 5:3-5) through thanksgiving (1 Thess 5:16-18).
Unlike presumptuous, arrogant, and entitled brats, those who truly love God, those who have truly been born-again by the Spirit (John 3:3-6), those who worship The Father in spirit and truth (John 4:23), these are the ones King Jesus said will joyfully deny self, pick up their cross daily, and follow Him (Matt 16:24). These are the ones, like the Apostle Paul, who have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation (Phil 4:11-13)… Faith is trusting that whether we’re on a mountaintop high or in The Valley of The Shadow of Death, we know, just as the psalmist wrote, that the LORD, our Good Shepherd, “You are with me: Your rod and Your staff comfort me.”
When King Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He wasn’t teaching them a mindless mantra to be recited. He was, instead, teaching them an attitude of how to be in right relationship with God by “exchanging wishes” with our Creator. When he taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” He was encouraging us NOT to be like the rebellious, idolatrous, and wayward nation of Israel with their constant and perpetual grumbling and complaining despite God’s unparalleled patience, glorious compassion, and miraculous provision. King Jesus was teaching us that sin is not times when thoughts of doubt, envy, lust, and worry enter our mind, but rather when we choose to entertain them. Sin is when we open the door to Satan’s lies and camp out with thoughts of cravings, lack, entitlement, and prerogative. As revealed in Romans 14:23, “and everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
Praying to The Father in heaven, “Give us this day our daily (ἐπιούσιον) bread,” is about demonstrating our desperate dependency upon - and legitimate faith in - God Almighty. It's an exercise in exchanging our wishes, hopes, dreams, and goals for His and trusting that God will lovingly, graciously, and supernaturally provide EVERYTHING we need to accomplish the Father’s will (Matthew 7:21) for His everlasting glory.
That mindset is what allowed Paul and Silas to pray (exchange wishes) first and then sing hymns to God while imprisoned (Acts 16:25)! That’s what allowed the Apostles to rejoice after having been imprisoned, flogged, and shamed - because they were counted worthy to suffer on behalf of Christ and His Name (Acts 5:40-41)! That’s what allowed Pastor Deitrich Bonhoeffer to stand up against Adolf Hitler - refusing to recant or renounce his faith in Christ Jesus. Faith in King Jesus will always cost us the laying down of our very lives. For true saints and martyrs, it’s not a matter of “belief,” because as James wrote, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” James went on to write, “...faith apart from works is dead.”
The fullness of God’s mystery (Eph 3) has been revealed to us in Christ Jesus our Savior, the one who has commanded us to “disciple all nations” (Matt 28:18) and revealed that when the Holy Spirit truly comes upon us, “You will be My witnesses…” to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Therefore, we have all the information we need. All that remains is this: “exchange wishes” with God to bring about The Father’s will on earth as it is in heaven. Faith “as small as a mustard seed” means that all we need and desire is for our ἄρτον ἐπιούσιον, i.e. daily bread, which is our perfect provision from the One who is The Bread of Life (John 6:35).
Will we choose to suppress the knowledge of God and His wishes (like dogs returning to the vomit of the pattern of the world exposed in our selfish desires, idols, and traditions), or will we “exchange wishes” with our Heavenly Father and live out the triumphant faith Jesus died to impart to us in bearing kingdom fruit for our King and His everlasting glory?
Check out this beautiful song of praise titled, I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.
Blessings and love,
Kevin M. Kelley
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