We are li­ving in an era of dra­ma­tic chan­ge and un­cer­tain­ty. There are pub­lic dis­cus­si­ons of va­lu­es and fun­da­men­tal is­su­es of faith as well as emp­lo­y­ment, workp­la­ces, and sub­sis­ten­ce. It is im­por­tant to pray that God’s word would gui­de our choi­ce of li­fes­ty­le and va­lu­es.

We of­ten hear news of how the rich grow inc­re­a­sing­ly rich, while the poor sink ever dee­per in po­ver­ty. This sounds hard, but it is true. Many of the pe­op­le we know may strug­g­le to make their li­ving. There is a need for abun­dant neigh­bor­ly love both near and far. Even a small sac­ri­fi­ce may make a big dif­fe­ren­ce for so­me­o­ne in dire need of help. We can­not cont­rol the dist­ri­bu­ti­on of big mo­ney or food in the in­ter­na­ti­o­nal or even the na­ti­o­nal con­text, but we can strive to make choi­ces gui­ded by God’s word among our fa­mi­ly and neigh­bors.

One cha­rac­te­ris­tic of our time is dis­con­tent­ment and comp­laint. “We have all things we need for a good life, but we still do not have enough.” This fee­ling is al­so close to be­lie­vers. What el­se should we ob­tain and pos­sess in or­der to live a hap­py life? It is temp­ting but dan­ge­rous to com­pa­re or es­ti­ma­te whet­her God has bles­sed more tem­po­ral we­alth to our neigh­bors or friends.

The food that is need­ful

We of­ten think and even wor­ry about our li­ve­li­hood and dai­ly bread. In his exp­la­na­ti­on of the Lord’s Pra­yer, Mar­tin Lut­her asks: ”What does dai­ly bread mean?” And he then exp­lains: ”Eve­ryt­hing that be­longs to the sup­port and wants of the body, such as meat, drink, clot­hing, shoes, hou­se, ho­mes­te­ad, field, cat­t­le, mo­ney, goods, a pi­ous spou­se, pi­ous child­ren, pi­ous ser­vants, pi­ous and faith­ful ma­gist­ra­tes, good go­vern­ment, good we­at­her, pe­a­ce, he­alth, dis­cip­li­ne, ho­nor, good friends, faith­ful neigh­bors, and the like.” This exp­la­na­ti­on of dai­ly bread writ­ten in Lut­her’s arc­haic lan­gu­a­ge co­vers eve­ryt­hing that we need.

A tra­ve­ler in the Old Tes­ta­ment ti­mes pra­yed to God: ”Re­mo­ve far from me fal­se­hood and lying; give me neit­her po­ver­ty nor ric­hes; feed me with the food that is need­ful for me.” (Prov. 30:8.) Apost­le Paul wrote: ”But if we have food and clot­hing, with these we will be con­tent.” (1Tim. 6:8). God has pro­mi­sed to bless all ho­nest and res­pec­tab­le work.

We can trust that God will give us our dai­ly bread and open for us op­por­tu­ni­ties to earn our li­ving. When the Old Tes­ta­ment tra­ve­ler pra­yed for ”the food that is need­ful”, he did not mean eit­her ex­ces­si­ve pros­pe­ri­ty or down­right po­ver­ty. Ex­ces­si­ve we­alth and suc­cess are not even good for eve­ry­bo­dy. “Ot­her­wi­se, I might have too much and deny you, sa­ying, “Who is the LORD?” or I might have not­hing and steal, pro­fa­ning the name of my God.” (Prov. 30:9.)

The most pre­ci­ous thing in our life

In a be­lie­ving home we may ex­pe­rien­ce mo­ments of joy and hap­pi­ness even at ti­mes of tem­po­ral shor­ta­ge, be­cau­se our most pre­ci­ous tre­a­su­re is faith. If tem­po­ral and eter­nal mat­ters are in har­mo­ny in our home, there pre­vails an inexp­li­cab­le at­mosp­he­re of qui­et hap­pi­ness, which can be per­cei­ved even by a vi­si­tor. We can trust that both small and great mat­ters in our life are in God’s care.

At Je­sus’ time, too, many pe­op­le wor­ried about their li­ve­li­hood and fu­tu­re. Je­sus spoke to them about God’s care: ”Look at the birds of the air: they neit­her sow nor reap nor gat­her in­to barns, and yet yo­ur he­a­ven­ly Fat­her feeds them. -- The­re­fo­re do not be an­xi­ous, sa­ying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear? -- But seek first the king­dom of God and his righ­te­ous­ness, and all these things will be ad­ded to you.” (Matt. 6:26,31,33.)

Je­sus taught about the cor­rect or­der of im­por­tan­ce. Par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on in God’s king­dom, per­so­nal faith, and the hap­py mes­sa­ge of the gos­pel give us the strength to per­se­ve­re through tem­po­ral dif­fi­cul­ties. ”Get­ting to know God and our Sa­vi­or Je­sus Christ and be­co­ming a child of God are the most im­por­tant mat­ter in our life.” (Chris­ti­an Doct­ri­ne 1).

Jor­ma Hop­pa

Trans­la­ti­on: S.-L. L.

Pro­verbs 30:8