“Give us today our daily bread.” Wow(!), if there was ever a prayer for our current situation, it is this one. With the shelter-in-place orders many businesses have had to shut down and furlough or lay off employees. People who live paycheck to paycheck are especially hurting. Those who have a little savings are seeing that deplete rapidly.
Fear has driven some to hoarding things like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, bleach. Others are searching everywhere to find those items. Our daily needs have consumed us and taken over much of our daily endeavors. When, if, the economy starts up once again, it may take quite a while for it to get back to where it was prior to the fear-pandemic. There is the looming specter that it may never do so.
Jesus tells us that in our relationship with our Father, we are to pray to Him and depend upon Him for our daily needs. We are to rely on Him for our daily care. We cannot change what happened yesterday, we cannot control what will happen tomorrow. We have this day and this day only. We must learn to seek and be aware of God’s presence and care for the day in which we live. We cannot put that off to the future. To do that means we may never be aware of it.
I must admit that as I watch the rolls of toilet paper on my garage shelves dwindle that I become a bit anxious. But then I remember that God already knew about my circumstances this date, April 19. He is mindful of my needs. I need but seek Him to find the assurance of His care for me today.
What is your greatest need today? May I be so bold to tell you that it may not be what you think it is? Your greatest need, my greatest need, is simple – to have the wonderful presence of God’s Holy Spirit within. When we live in the awareness of His presence, fear of “what may happen” is banished.
