Give Us This Day

This month we’ll reflect on references to bread in the Bible. Mentioned more than 500 times from Genesis to Revelation, bread is a part of every significant movement of the story of redemption. When Jesus calls himself the bread of life, he is referring back to numerous stories in Scripture in which bread was an important sign of God’s care and presence among his people, and Jesus demonstrates that he is the fulfillment of those signs.

And whenever we “take this bread” in celebrating the Lord’s Supper (communion), we remember that Jesus is the food of eternal life—and in some ways too we are rehearsing the entire story of redemption.

As we read and think about bread in the Bible, may our hunger for the Word grow, and may our appetite for life with God increase. As we wait for the truth to rise in our hearts, may God prepare a table for us, abundant with the provisions of his grace and mercy. And may we “taste and see” the goodness of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

September’s author, Julia Prins Vanderveen, lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband, Trevor, and their three sons, Gideon, Levi, and Philip. Julia has served as a copastor in Vancouver, and she is now working at a Christian school there as a campus pastor and part-time English teacher. Her enjoyment of preparing meals for the family and her lifelong habit of eating bread have helped her pay attention to the theme of bread in the Bible, inspiring a deep love for Jesus, the bread of life sent from heaven (John 6:32-35).

As you read the Today devotions this month, may you be refreshed, refocused, and renewed in God’s Word!

Begin with day one of Give Us This Day here or download the full PDF.