If you grew up praying the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6, you’re familiar with the term “daily bread.” This phrase reminds us of a time in the Old Testament when God literally gave his people their daily bread. The account is found in Exodus 16 at a time when the people of Israel were grumbling against Moses. They were saying, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Ex. 16:3). So God told Moses that he was about to send bread to the people so that they would see his power and know that he is the one true God. On the very next day, “…when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground… Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat…’” (Ex. 16:14-15). Moses commanded the people to gather as much of it as they could eat, but warned them, “Leave no part of it over till the morning” (Ex. 16:19). The people were supposed to trust that God would provide more bread for them the next day; therefore they were not to try to save any of it overnight to eat on the next day. Some didn’t listen to Moses, and the bread that they saved back for the next day became worm-infested and stinky. God was teaching his people to trust in him for their daily bread. Each day he provided what they needed for that day, no more and no less.

Jesus also taught his disciples that he was the true bread of life that came down from the Father (John 6:48-51). He compared himself to the manna in the Old Testament, pointing out that the benefits of manna were only temporary and physical in nature, whereas Jesus brings eternal and spiritual blessings to those who receive him and ‘feed’ on his words. When we see the parallel between the manna and Jesus (the true bread from heaven), we recognise that the manna is teaching us something about how to ‘feed’ on Jesus. Just as the Israelites had to collect the bread from heaven day by day, so we must feed on Jesus’ word day by day. The incident with the manna in the Old Testament foreshadows Jesus and teaches us that this is the proper way to feed on the bread of life—daily. So, if you wish to receive the spiritual nourishment from Jesus, the true bread from heaven, you have to feed on his word every day. Not once in a while, not even once a week during worship, but every single day. Just as the Israelites had to gather the manna each day, let us feed on the True Bread from heaven daily by reading the Bible every day.