If you haven’t done it already, ask for your daily bread. Feel your need of Christ. And let him generously pour out upon you your daily dependence on his grace.
Welcome to Sharing Hope. Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and whenever I feel overwhelmed? This is the old hymn I will most often will sing.
(Joni sings:)
I must tell Jesus all of my trials
I cannot bare these burdens alone.
In my distress he kindly will help me
He ever loves and cares for his own.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus
I cannot bare these burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
You know, when I was a child learning to say the Lord’s Prayer, I always stumbled a bit when I got to the part, “Give us this day our daily bread.” The way I saw it, God knows we need it, why doesn’t he just simply supply it? And if we have to ask for daily bread, then why not ask for bread for a whole week or month or year? Why not cover it all with a single request? God should understand that; after all, like I said, he already knows we need it.
That’s the way we want things, isn’t it? But God doesn’t do things our way. His ways are not like ours. For when it comes to the Lord's Prayer and the way we are supposed to present our needs to him, it is a daily thing. And not just for bread, but for everything. God has determined that we should feel and recognize our daily – no, our hourly dependence on him. And there’s a good reason why. That way we will have to go often to his throne for help. That way, we will be constantly reminded of his love. We will hearken daily to the hard cold facts that we are a lot needier than we realize. And we will be forced to remember that while we are needy, he provides; when we are weak, he is strong. When we feel poor, we find in him great riches. When we are dead to sin, we are alive to him. We are nothing without him, and we have everything through him.
So I do not mind telling you that I sing this old hymn called “I Must Tell Jesus” – I sing it a lot. Because of my wheelchair, God has made it so that I can’t help but feel, I can’t help but recognize daily, sometimes hourly, my desperate dependence on him. And so, I go often to his throne for help. I will often sing “I must tell Jesus all of my trials, I cannot bear these burdens alone.” But in singing through my weakness, I discover God's strength. By telling him I am needy, I realize he’s the provider. And when I feel utterly poor, I find in him the riches of his grace.
Friend, how about you? Do you feel your daily need of God? Remember, Exodus 16:21 says, “Each morning [God's people] gathered as much [manna] as they needed.” It was a day’s supply for a day’s need. So if you haven’t done it already, ask for your daily bread. Feel your need of Christ. And let him generously pour out upon you your daily dependence on his grace. And then flip open a hymnal and learn the words to this old hymn.
© Joni and Friends