A Thanksgiving Reminder of God’s “Daily Bread”
Written by: Curtis Cheyney, Board Member
In this season of Thanksgiving there is much to be recalled as blessings with a grateful, humble heart and express our thankfulness to God and to each other; it is time to be grateful for Providential supply, abundance, the atonement with the sure record of the Resurrection, and for family support. When in the Lord’s Prayer, we petition our Lord for “Daily Bread” mis-perceiving simply that thanks is a response to food and shelter only, and we mistake the breadth of the Petition. However, spiritual reality and our petition model is for the supply of all our daily needs to the Author of every good and perfect gift. It is more than daily bread; our gracious God has supplied not only our food and shelter for life, but also health, jobs, liberty and freedom, peace with Him, and even our government which we should recognize as addressing a daily need, and should be included in the concept of “daily bread”. Good Government is a gift from God according to Paul; for us, this blessing is based on Judeo-Christian principles and under providential wisdom it was to be established to protect our liberties and freedoms, which are wonderful gifts from God. These gifts are often taken for granted, not nurtured or appreciated, nor recognized as coming from God, and can suffer a kind of spiritual leakage without robust access and application.
One aspect of the blessing of wisdom is that it is ours, graciously made available upon request, prayerfully sought from God. And it is always available; it is essential to our welfare as is daily bread. It is available for the asking but more so from the seeking, in humility. This generation may have forgotten the source and the benefits to be acquired from Divine wisdom, more essential to life than wordly knowledge or learning. Perhaps the wisdom of the ages in this present culture is suffering from lack of use and is wasting away by consequence. Providential wisdom is disregarded these modern days as out of fashion, out of political favor, old school values tainted unforgivingly by labels of hate. Such disfavor has an old history, with lessons to be learned of the sure consequence and sad stories and undesired outcomes from ignorance.
One of the historical lessons can be found in the experience of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, the eldest son of Solomon, the wisest leader of a nation then and forever, the wisest leader of the most prosperous kingdom of history. The son who longer than any of the other sons sat at the side of his father to witness and learn lessons on wisdom and its effectiveness for peace, unity, prosperity, justice and godliness for leadership of a nation of disparate peoples. After the death of Solomon, Rehoboam, now king, had an early challenge presented to him by Jeroboam, a leader of the former king’s army and the spokesmen for the people Israelites of the northern kingdom. In Kings, Chapter 12, Jeroboam petitions Rehoboam for an understanding as to how he intends to rule over these people and their interests of the northern kingdom, a kingdom remote from Jerusalem and the seat of power and remote from the center of worship within the theocracy of the nation of Israel. Rehoboam does not respond to this important question by first relying on prayer to God, but first consults the wise men who served in his father’s administration, men of history with the wisdom of the ages, and experience with the wisdom of Solomon. Not satisfied, he turns his back on their wisdom and then engages and inquires for wisdom from his young associates, who were with him during his youthful immaturity. They had little if any experience with Solomon’s godliness and were likely disassociated with it, but reaped the benefits of his leadership. They were likely self-indulged, youthful companions of Rehoboam who were brought up around the Court of Solomon. They did not understand the wisdom which Solomon received as a blessing. They were disposed to side with the fashionable, full of gusto, with an attitude of self confident assurances to respond in the moment. They were not seeking wisdom by prayer and supplication to the God of Abraham, Isaacs, Jacob, David and Solomon. Instead, they relied on feelings of youth; a crowd of young men selected by a young man to be the advisors of the young king. Their advice was unwise and foolish; it resulted in political and social division (not unity), and upheaval for generations of unhappiness. Such unfortunate but convenient wisdom replaces regularly the godly wisdom of the ages. That experience is repeated throughout history. God’s wisdom is often overlooked, disregarded as boringly slow; seeking it by prayer is simply too difficult and unfashionable. The new way of thinking (fast and politically correct, measured by feelings and supported by technology) seems today to be the modern choice for life but clearly not the daily bread for life that our Lord was modelling for us in the Lord’s Prayer.
This holiday season I am grateful that God’s wisdom is still considered a blessing to those who seek it from its source – God Almighty who freely offers access to his gift through prayer and steady supplication. The wise still seek him, and then stand, hold on in faith, not faltering from the temptation of feelings, urgency and fashion to abandon the sure path to life of everlasting abundance. Wisdom from God must increase, and foolish designs posing as wisdom must decrease. The Providence Forum exists thankfully to lift up that wisdom of the ages and to encourage and educate all who will listen to God’s word and follow his wisdom, the source for sure life. Our daily bread includes access to the blessing of wisdom, if we seek it. There is nothing to lose; fashion, feelings and caprice by new age have no track record like God. It was God’s wisdom that raised this land for his purposes and his glory, not ours. We should still be a providential light to the world for unity and wisdom with our North Star being God’s unifying truth and wisdom. We can be thankful that his godly wisdom fully blessed this country’s founders and patriots. We need a truly grateful heart with pure thanks to God for raising up godly churches and ministries of the Gospel message and with a clear mission-driven focused ministry. The Providence Forum speaks out to all who will listen and learn the wisdom of God and of the ages.
God bless America this Thanksgiving Day and grant to all a willing spirit in America to seek God’s truth and wisdom for unity, the wisdom for our country’s welfare and a shame to those who eschew and belittle this gracious gift. We must again be thankful that God’s wisdom is still accessible but by prayer and not to be found in the marketplace of fashionable principles of this age. The wise choice is still available to satisfy a daily need and I thank God for it.
