SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/25/2020 11:43 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1
Of “5 Key Elements in the Request of God's Provisions”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 6:11
Message of the
verse: “11
’Give us this day our daily bread.’”
We will begin to look at this five key elements in the
request of God’s provisions in our SD for today. We mentioned before that the Lord’s Prayer
can be broken up into two sections, and we are not in the second section which
deal with our requests to God, but also as mentioned the prayer still focuses
on God.
The substance: The substance is bread, but not
only does it represent food but is symbolic of all our physical needs. Martin Luther stated that “everything
necessary for the preservation of this life is bread, including food, a healthy
body, good weather, house, home, wife, children, good government, and peace.” I would have to say that this is a great deal
more than just bread.
MacArthur writes “It is marvelous to understand that the
God who created the entire universe, who is the God of all space and time and
eternity, who is infinitely holy and completely self-sufficient, should care
about supplying our physical needs—and should be concerned that we receive enough
food to eat, clothes to wear, and a place to rest. God obligates Himself to supply our needs.” I totally agree with this statement at
wondering why God cares enough for us when most of the time many people give
little regard for Him. I am reminded of
a chapter I recently read from W. Phillip Keller’s book on the Lord’s prayer as
he entitled it “A Layman’s look at the Lord’s Prayer.” He was talking about the phrase “hallowed be
Thy name,” and was talking mostly about the church stating that we have done a
very poor job in doing this. Perhaps the
things that are going on in our world is a wakeup call for all believers to
realize that it is God who is in control, that God has a plan for this world
that He created and desires us to look up to Him, and to hallow His name, giving
what He deserves!
As we look at this part of the prayer we can see that it
is in the form of a petition, however it is also an affirmation—which is why it
is as appropriate for those who are well-fed as for those who don’t have much
to eat. Above all it is an affirmation
that we can see from James 1:17 where James writes “17
Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers
of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in
God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle” (Message). 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no
variation or shadow of turning” (NKJV).
The following comes from my SD dated
Aug. 8, 2003: “If I understand what Dr. Wiersbe says about this verse it could start out
something like this: Every gift that God
gives us is perfect, and the way that He gives it to us is perfect, and He
keeps on giving us gifts all of the time, even when we do not realize that He
is giving them to us, and God is not like the moving of the planets and stars,
for He never changes because He cannot change for worse because He is holy, and
He cannot change for better because He is perfect.”
The Source: Now we move onto looking at the source and
that of course is God as the Father is the One addressed throughout the prayer,
the One who is praised and who is also petitioned.
MacArthur sees to hit on the point that I was talking
about earlier as he writes “When all our needs are met and all is going well in
our lives, we are inclined to think we are carrying our own load. We earn our own money, buy our own food and
clothes, pay for our own houses. Yet
even the hardest-working person owes all that he earns to God’s provision (see
Deut. 8:18). Our life, breath, health,
possessions, talents, and opportunities all originate from resources that God
has created and made available to man (see Acts 17:24-28). After scientists have made all their
observations and calculations, there remains the unexplained element of the
design, origin, and operation of the universe.
It is unexplained, that is, apart from God who holds it all together
(Heb. 1:2-3).” I want to look at Hebrews
1:2-3 at this time “2 in
these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all
things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His
glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the
Majesty on high,” (NASB95). I have
talked about this highlighted portion in past SD as I spoke about the fact that
scientist are baffled as to how the universe is held together. Peter talks about this in his second
letter: “But the day of the Lord will
come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the
elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will
be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). Let us
look at the word elements for a moment: “1)
any first thing, from
which the others belonging to some series or composite whole take their rise,
an element, first principal e.g. the elements, rudiments, primary and
fundamental principles of any art, science, or discipline” (Greek English
Dictionary). The word for element in the
Greek is stoicheion stoy-khi’-on.” Now according to our definition we could say
that what Peter is talking about is basic building block. I have learned a long time ago that what
Peter is talking about here is the “atom.”
According to our verses in Hebrews it is “Christ” who holds all things
together including the atoms. As one looks
at a magnet and tries to put both north sides of them together they repel. That is what is inside of all atoms and when
Christ releases the atoms as seen in Peter’s verse (3:10) there will be an explosion
bigger than any yet seen as the universe, including the earth will dissolve and
burn up. This is how powerful our God
is.
I think it best that I conclude this
“source” in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life
today: I desire to praise the Lord
for the great power that He has, but most of all for the great salvation that
He has provided for me and all who accept His forgiveness.
11/25/2020
12:26 PM
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