马太福音 14:15-21 天将晚的时候，门徒进前来，说：“这是野地，时候已经过了，请叫众人散开，他们好往村子里去，自己买吃的。” 耶稣说：“不用他们去，你们给他们吃吧！” 门徒说：“我们这里只有五个饼，两条鱼。” 耶稣说：“拿过来给我。” 于是吩咐众人坐在草地上，就拿着这五个饼，两条鱼，望着天祝福，擘开饼，递给门徒，门徒又递给众人。 他们都吃，并且吃饱了，把剩下的零碎收拾起来，装满了十二个篮子。 吃的人，除了妇女孩子，约有五千。
如果主耶稣想保证每次传道都有五千人或更多的人来听，他所要做的就是提供给他们免费的食物。那么每个人都会来领取免费的食物！但这并不是他事工的全部意义所在。他的职责是宣讲福音，然后通过他的死和复活使福音成就。但由于众人整天和他在一起，他们很饿，耶稣就给了他们日用的食物。这就是上帝所做的。通过这个奇迹，耶稣表明他自己就是上帝。
上帝今天依然会为我们提供日用的饮食。大多数情况下，他通过工作和劳动以及普通的方式来提供给我们，有时还会以我们意想不到的方式来到我们的身边。记得我在神学院的最后一年，大约在一月份，我们陷入了经济的匮乏之中。那时在秋天的苹果园每周工作到20个小时，所得寥寥无几，几乎不能够支付账单，也不能支付我们刚出生孩子的医疗费用和医院账单。随后，就在一周内，上帝告诉我，我不应该为每天的日用饮食而焦虑。出乎意料的是，我从神学院拿到了一比400美元的奖学金。不知从哪里冒出来的，但在那时候可是一大笔钱。就在同一周内，我的房东告诉我，她把房子卖给了州政府进行道路改造，我在接下来的六个月里不必付房租了。神学院的秘书把我叫了进来，问我是否想和我的妻子一起找一份帮他们照看孩子的工作，因为那家人出去度假了。后来，那份工作还另外给我带来了其他几个类似的工作。我付了所有的账单，也有时间学习我最后一年的培训课程。
感谢你，主耶稣，赐给我日用的饮食，请赦免我的怀疑！
祷告：亲爱的耶稣，我把生命里的很多东西都当做是理所当然的，我的健康，我的家庭，我的食物，我的房子和我日常生活所需要的一切。即便是这样，我还是常常忧虑担心！赦免我的不知感恩和怀疑，赦免我不满足于生活现状。感谢你一直提供给我日用的饮食，即使我不配。奉主耶稣基督的名求。阿门！
Matthew 14: 15-21: 15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
If Jesus wanted to guarantee a crowd of five thousand or more every time he preached, all he had to do was offer free food. Everyone shows up for free food! But that was not what his ministry was all about. His ministry was to preach the gospel and then to make the gospel a reality by his death and resurrection. But the crowd had been with him all day and they were very hungry and Jesus gave them their daily bread. That’s what God does. And by this miracle, Jesus shows himself to be God.
God still provides our daily food. Mostly he provides it through work and labor and ordinary means. Sometimes it comes to us in ways we do not expect. In my last year at the seminary, about January, we were beginning to run short. Working twenty hours a week in the apple orchard that fall hardly paid the bills, or the doctor and hospital bills for our new baby. Then in one week God showed me that I shouldn’t worry about my daily bread. Unexpectedly, I got a $400 scholarship from the seminary. It came out of nowhere, and that was a lot of money back then. The same week my landlord told me she sold the house to the state for a road improvement, and that I didn’t have to pay rent for the next six months. The secretary at the seminary called me in to ask me if I wanted a job with my wife, babysitting for a family while they were on vacation. That job led to several others like it. The bills got paid and I had time to study that last year of my training.
Thank you, Jesus, for giving me my daily bread, and forgive me for doubting!
Prayer: Dear Jesus, I take so much for granted in my life, my health, my family, my food, my home and all that I need for my daily life. And still, I worry! Forgive me for my thanklessness and for my doubting. Forgive me for not being content with the necessities of life. And thank you for having always provided, even when I did not deserve it. Amen.