Sunday, February 4, 2007
Matthew 6:11-12
Lorenzo Dunford
Campus
Pastor and Youth Minister
Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our
debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:11-12
The Lord’s Prayer has been a part of my life as far
back as I can remember. Even
when my family lived in Midland, Texas, and were not able to attend church all
that much, we still said the Lord’s Prayer.
Something in me was sure of the fact that God was
real and He was the one
responsible for most everything in existence. And for whatever reason, I
believed the various messages I heard on Jesus being the Son of God who died
for our sin. Thus, I trusted the Bible to be significant in pointing the way to
understanding God’s Way. “Give us today
our daily bread.” If I go without food
for a sustained period of time, it will have a significant effect on my health;
bottom line, I will die. But if I go one day without food, in some ways, it
could be beneficial (some call this fasting).
So what is Jesus saying in His instruction to
the disciples of the proper way to engage God in prayer? He is giving us instructions for our
provision. Provision is just another
way of stating God’s function as a giver. And although the word itself
can mean “measures taken beforehand”, when the actual word is dissected, more
comes to light. The prefix pro “refers to or signifies being for or
before.” And the second
word, vision, “refers to having sight.” So in essence, the word
provision can also be reflective of having foresight.
The moment I consider this possible angle of God’s
role in meeting the needs of us all, I was reminded of a decision that shaped
the way I pay attention today to the subtle instructions in life.
Christmas break of ‘89, I had planned on traveling to
Texas to spend a few days with my father. Mom was living in Oklahoma City and I was going to school an hour west
at Southwestern (SWOSU) in Weatherford, OK. It was rainy and cold but the roads
were fine all the way into OKC that afternoon. The game plan was to visit with
Mom for a spell and then head on to Dad’s later in the evening. I hadn’t reached the house good before Mom
started in, “Have you listened to the weather? They are saying the temperature
is going to continue to drop. Are you still planning on going to your Dad’s?” She
was foreseeing potential difficulty ahead if I chose to carry on as planned.
However, she left the ultimate decision up to me.
Well, at that time in my life, I was sometimes
confident when I should have been cautious and this was one of those times. I
loved driving, especially at night, and I wasn’t afraid of poor weather
conditions; if you just take it slow, everything would work out just fine, so I
thought.
I left Mom’s about a quarter till 6. My father’s house was approximately 3 hours away and I had driven the route many times. I-35 seemed OK until right outside of Norman. All of a sudden, the highway became a 4-lane ice-skating rink. Cars were sliding all over the place; to date, I have never seen anything quite like it.
I was able to keep it together for about 4 hours and
finally fear started to get the best of me. My maximum speed was 25 miles an
hour and I constantly felt like my car was out of control. At about 11 o’clock,
I pulled off and called Mom for advice. By this time, I was almost halfway
there, but conditions seemed to be getting worse as the temperature dropped.
Now, as a parent, I have better insight into the
strength my mom demonstrated that night when I called her. She could hear in my
voice the uncertainty of what to do and the cry for an immediate rescue. I know
the Mom in her wanted to tell me just to turn around and come home. I know she
would have taken that wheel from me and put her life on the line in my place if
she could have. But she couldn’t, for I had chosen to ignore her
foresight and now I needed her grace and guidance.
I will never forget her words to me. “Son, I know
it’s scary right now and I know you are tired. If I could promise an easier
passage, I would tell you to turn around. But since I can’t, I need you to get
it together and remember what I taught you about driving in poor conditions. You’ve
made it this far and I know you can make it the rest of the way.”
She told me the other night as we rehearsed the
moment, she was wearing God’s ear out and calling on those angels to keep her
baby safe. Needless to say, about 4 hours later and after a couple of very,
very close calls, I made it to my father’s in one piece. That slippery night is
forever etched in my soul and when I began to think of provision in the light
of foresight, this particular event causes me to see things in a whole new way.
I believe God’s Word supports the idea of God having
foresight into the events of our lives. If He indeed created us, He has a depth
of insight into each one of our distinct purposes. Therefore, I can hear Jesus
instructing us to call out to God in prayer for our daily bread of foresight.
See, if I can know what He knows and I can adhere to His wisdom, it is
possible I can forego unnecessary pitfalls along the highways of life.
Today, I encourage you to lean on God’s foresight for
your life. Let His Word guide you each and every day. Just a few verses down
from the Lord’s Prayer, in Matthew, is one of the most powerful scriptures to
me in the whole Bible: Seek first the
kingdom of God. In a nutshell, the verse is encouraging us to put our
faith and focus in God’s foresight for our lives. Then, everything else
will fall into its proper place, whatever it may be.