Matthew 6:11, Common English Bible

During the forty years between the time the Israelites left Egypt and entered the Promised Land, they faced harsh conditions, including a scarcity of food.  To alleviate this problem, God miraculously provided the Israelites with “bread from heaven,” called “manna.”  The manna appeared each morning, and the Israelites were given specific instructions on gathering it.  What was manna?  Interestingly, the Israelites asked the very same question.  “When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was.  And Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.’” Exodus 16:15.  The Hebrew word translated “manna” literally mean “what is it?”

Bread was so much the main ingredient of eating that the word “bread” came to mean “food.”  If one had bread…one could live.  And so when Jesus said, “I am the bread of life,” he was saying that he was the one essential for life.  He was claiming that he and he alone was the sustenance for life.

Jesus is teaching the disciples about a pathway to real life.  Bread is needed for this journey.  Bread is a gift from God!  Life is sustained by the eating of bread!  Yes, we eat more than bread today, but bread symbolizes the substance for daily life.

Ask for what sustains our lives!
“Give us…

Expect God to deliver today!
“this day…

Not mine, but our bread!
“Our daily bread.”  Matthew 6:11

Hear the W.O.W., the Words of Wisdom,
“Jesus is the real bread of life!”