Give Us Bread
Our Lord taught us to pray: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread…" (Mat. 6:9-11) In the first place God is "hallowed," which means God is honored as God for His Holiness. The Holiness of God consists not only in the eternal perfection of His attributes, but also consists in the separateness and uniqueness with which He possesses and exhibits His attributes as Creator. He is hallowed, and we hallow Him, as the infinite and eternal Creator of a finite and temporal reality consisting of ourselves and the world He has given us to inhabit. In the second place it is declared that the proper order of our world is to mirror the heavenly order. Whereas God is Creator of our world, therefore He rightly is King over our lives and our world. Due to our sin, our nature is corrupted so that left to ourselves we would flee God and His will. It then has become a Divine ministry in human life, and thus a task of all godly human life, to work toward the bringing about of the proper world order consisting in the Kingdom of God, where His will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven. In the third place we are to assume the posture of proper godliness: bowing before God, our Creator, who alone sustains our lives. The food-dependency of the body is analogous of the basic metaphysical dependency of the creature upon the Creator and continuously places the fact of this dependency before us. The constant appeal of the believer to God for his bread is a perpetual testimony that he, who once turned away from God, now by His Grace turns back to Him. The constant quest of the unbeliever for some other source of bread is a constant and sinful quest for independence. Regardless how eloquently or how bitterly the Humanist may declare his independence from God, he never can transcend the reality of his food-dependency. He never may cease seeking bread to sustain his God-denying voice. So also he never can escape the question: whence bread?
Unbelief persists in denying dependence upon and duty toward God. However, unbelief cannot alter the basic makeup of human nature. Man remains in essence a God-dependent creature and food-dependency remains analogous of a larger metaphysical dependency. In denying God-dependency the unbeliever cannot deny the idea of dependence, but is constrained to transfer (in his own sinful thought) dependence upon God to dependence upon something nominated to take His place. This is the essence and the origin of idolatry. Man is constrained to cry out to someone or something, "Give us this day our daily bread." A dramatic example of this is presented in the 41st Chapter of Genesis. Joseph rose to power in Egypt by interpreting Pharaoh's dream concerning seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. The people of Egypt were entirely Humanistic. Egyptian culture looked to Pharaoh as the gateway to heavenly blessings. His political authority derived from his religious authority, and his religious authority was based on the idea that he was himself in some sense divine. He was not only feared and respected, but also was worshipped; he was feared and respected because he was worshipped. The populace derived their bread from the natural processes that were assumed to be blessed by divine aid accruing through Pharaoh. However, when seven years of famine fell upon them, they appealed directly to what they always had esteemed their ultimate source: "…the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread." (Gen 41:55) Here we see the starkest of contrasts between Christianity and Humanism. The Christian cries out to God for bread; the Egyptian cries out to Pharaoh for bread. The Christian bows before his Creator, his Father in Heaven, whose Kingdom he seeks; the Humanist turns away from the Creator and attempts to substitute something of human device, which is sought to supply everything men rightly ought to seek only in God: a sense of identity and of origins, a transcendent favor upon the contingencies of life, a principle of order, purpose and destiny, and, summing up everything in a word, bread. Such becomes a god to him.
In many respects late-modern America increasingly reveals itself to be more spiritually and culturally akin to the Ancient Egyptians than to the Christian lineage embodied in the Reformation and evidenced in her Founding Fathers. Many polls indicate a wide-spread belief in "god" in America today, and even indicate a wide-spread subscription to a "conservative" or "Evangelical" view of the Bible and traditional Christian Doctrines. But there is another poll that tells a much different story. For many years now a popular poll has been asking Americans, concerning the sitting President, "Do you approve or disapprove of the way [insert current President's name] is handling the economy?" Let the Reader pause and search Article II of the Constitution of the United States of America. He will find nothing there to suggest that it is the task of the President to "handle the economy." The Reader also may survey the various Amendments to the Constitution, and neither will he find any indication that such god-like duties have been added. We have drifted very, very far from our original foundation. Indeed, it would be god-like for any human being to undertake such a task as "handling the economy." True Christianity understands that it is God "…who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant…" (Dt. 8:18), and it is God who declares our blessing, thus, "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country; blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock; blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl; blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out." (Dt. 28:3-6). This is "handling the economy." Where are all of the "Bible-believing Evangelicals" when it comes to answering the pollsters? In the latest iteration of the poll 94% of Americans answered with either approval or disapproval. Disapproval implies the view that the substance of the question is valid: that the President rightly attempts "handling the economy," and objects only to his manner of doing so. Only 6% are listed as "undecided." We may only wonder how many of those included as "undecided" raised objections to the whole premise of the question. But even if all of them did, that still comprises a very small minority of the population. We rightly may say that the vast majority of Americans look to the President - or to politicians generally - for the orchestration of a rewarding economy. Where is the Christian witness in this land? This vast majority necessarily must include a great subset of, if not the entirety of, "Evangelicalism." "Evangelicals" publish books and articles, hold conferences and seminars, write letters to editors and politicians, go on talk radio and television programs, and organize protests and demonstrations concerning one issue or another that supposedly is of critical importance to recovering or maintaining the Christian quality of American culture. But what is all of this worth if the activists themselves have not properly esteemed God nor have assumed their proper posture before Him? The polls have caught "Evangelicals" unawares. The polls indicate an increasing interest in spiritual things in America today. But, what "god" is American turning toward? On the most basic issue of everyday life involving every living, breathing person, the polls tell us we have a long, long way to go, and, indeed, hardly have begun. For Americans and "Evangelicals" today look not to God, but to Pharaoh, for bread.
Unbelief persists in denying dependence upon and duty toward God. However, unbelief cannot alter the basic makeup of human nature. Man remains in essence a God-dependent creature and food-dependency remains analogous of a larger metaphysical dependency. In denying God-dependency the unbeliever cannot deny the idea of dependence, but is constrained to transfer (in his own sinful thought) dependence upon God to dependence upon something nominated to take His place. This is the essence and the origin of idolatry. Man is constrained to cry out to someone or something, "Give us this day our daily bread." A dramatic example of this is presented in the 41st Chapter of Genesis. Joseph rose to power in Egypt by interpreting Pharaoh's dream concerning seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. The people of Egypt were entirely Humanistic. Egyptian culture looked to Pharaoh as the gateway to heavenly blessings. His political authority derived from his religious authority, and his religious authority was based on the idea that he was himself in some sense divine. He was not only feared and respected, but also was worshipped; he was feared and respected because he was worshipped. The populace derived their bread from the natural processes that were assumed to be blessed by divine aid accruing through Pharaoh. However, when seven years of famine fell upon them, they appealed directly to what they always had esteemed their ultimate source: "…the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread." (Gen 41:55) Here we see the starkest of contrasts between Christianity and Humanism. The Christian cries out to God for bread; the Egyptian cries out to Pharaoh for bread. The Christian bows before his Creator, his Father in Heaven, whose Kingdom he seeks; the Humanist turns away from the Creator and attempts to substitute something of human device, which is sought to supply everything men rightly ought to seek only in God: a sense of identity and of origins, a transcendent favor upon the contingencies of life, a principle of order, purpose and destiny, and, summing up everything in a word, bread. Such becomes a god to him.
In many respects late-modern America increasingly reveals itself to be more spiritually and culturally akin to the Ancient Egyptians than to the Christian lineage embodied in the Reformation and evidenced in her Founding Fathers. Many polls indicate a wide-spread belief in "god" in America today, and even indicate a wide-spread subscription to a "conservative" or "Evangelical" view of the Bible and traditional Christian Doctrines. But there is another poll that tells a much different story. For many years now a popular poll has been asking Americans, concerning the sitting President, "Do you approve or disapprove of the way [insert current President's name] is handling the economy?" Let the Reader pause and search Article II of the Constitution of the United States of America. He will find nothing there to suggest that it is the task of the President to "handle the economy." The Reader also may survey the various Amendments to the Constitution, and neither will he find any indication that such god-like duties have been added. We have drifted very, very far from our original foundation. Indeed, it would be god-like for any human being to undertake such a task as "handling the economy." True Christianity understands that it is God "…who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant…" (Dt. 8:18), and it is God who declares our blessing, thus, "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country; blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock; blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl; blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out." (Dt. 28:3-6). This is "handling the economy." Where are all of the "Bible-believing Evangelicals" when it comes to answering the pollsters? In the latest iteration of the poll 94% of Americans answered with either approval or disapproval. Disapproval implies the view that the substance of the question is valid: that the President rightly attempts "handling the economy," and objects only to his manner of doing so. Only 6% are listed as "undecided." We may only wonder how many of those included as "undecided" raised objections to the whole premise of the question. But even if all of them did, that still comprises a very small minority of the population. We rightly may say that the vast majority of Americans look to the President - or to politicians generally - for the orchestration of a rewarding economy. Where is the Christian witness in this land? This vast majority necessarily must include a great subset of, if not the entirety of, "Evangelicalism." "Evangelicals" publish books and articles, hold conferences and seminars, write letters to editors and politicians, go on talk radio and television programs, and organize protests and demonstrations concerning one issue or another that supposedly is of critical importance to recovering or maintaining the Christian quality of American culture. But what is all of this worth if the activists themselves have not properly esteemed God nor have assumed their proper posture before Him? The polls have caught "Evangelicals" unawares. The polls indicate an increasing interest in spiritual things in America today. But, what "god" is American turning toward? On the most basic issue of everyday life involving every living, breathing person, the polls tell us we have a long, long way to go, and, indeed, hardly have begun. For Americans and "Evangelicals" today look not to God, but to Pharaoh, for bread.
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