When Joyce began baking bread she tried several different
recipes until she found one we all liked. Then, over time, she refined both the
recipe and the technique. A funny moment occurred when she was discussing bread
making with some of the ladies from our church. One of them said that she
wished she could bake bread like Joyce. Joyce replied, “Well you should, it’s
your recipe.” The lady replied that might be so but hers never turned out like
Joyce’s.
Baking bread requires a specific knowledge. I can put
together the ingredients but who would eat it? When Joyce makes bread everyone
asks for more. One of our daughters wanted to learn how to make bread like her
mother. She followed her around the kitchen with a notepad and wrote down
everything she did. She quickly realized that she needed to stop and hand her
mother a measuring cup or her recipe would be meaningless. After time she
learned how to make bread but it was more from following her mother than is was
from following the recipe.
When Jesus was tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread,
Jesus responded, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4 ESV) Later when Jesus taught us to
pray he included the phrase, “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11
ESV) In previous newsletters I told you that when we ASK for bread we are
praying for God to A – Act, and S – Save us from sin. We are also asking him to
give us K – Knowledge. This bread is both the written word of God and the
living word of God. (Jesus refers to himself as the Bread of Life in John 6:35).
Knowing God requires a specific knowledge. It comes more
from following Jesus than any program. The written directions for bread may not
always tell you about how much flour to add until the dough reaches the right consistency
but following the baker will teach you how to know. A program of discipleship
may not tell you God’s specific will for your life. But Jesus knows God’s
perfect will and following him will lead you to know it too. He can feed you
the bread of life because he is the Bread of Life.
When we pray for daily bread we are praying for knowledge
that is not just information about his word or his will. We are praying to know
him, as Paul said: “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and
may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means
possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11 ESV)
Bro. Robin
