Daily Bread: Devotion for January 26

This week we turn our attention to one simple yet deeply profound petition of the Lord’s Prayer:

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

Martin Luther once noted that this prayer has a distinctly social dimension. Daily bread does not fall from the sky in isolation. For everyone to have what they need, there must be a healthy economy, meaningful work, and a just society. To pray, “Give us—all the people of our land—daily bread,” Luther argued, is to pray against exploitation in business, trade, and labor that crushes the poor and robs them of what they need to live. In other words, asking God for daily bread is also a prayer for a fair and flourishing social order.

There is a powerful story from the end of World War II that brings this petition to life. As Europe was liberated from Nazi occupation, widespread hunger followed. Countless children were orphaned and left starving. Allied forces gathered these children into camps where they were fed and cared for. Yet despite full bellies, many of the children could not sleep. Psychologists discovered the reason: fear. The children were terrified they would wake up once again to hunger.

Someone tried a simple experiment. Each child was given a piece of bread to hold while sleeping—not to eat, just to keep. The change was immediate. That night, the children slept peacefully. The bread was a promise. It assured them that food would be there in the morning. That small loaf calmed their fears, restored hope, and helped them trust that they were finally in good hands.

Jesus calls himself the bread of life—a bread that does more than satisfy hunger. He offers reassurance, steadies anxious hearts, and invites us to trust that we, too, are held and cared for. May we find deep comfort in that promise.

This reflection is captured visually in a haunting painting by Thomas Kennington, an artist known for depicting the urban poor of London with honesty and compassion. His painting Orphans confronts us with the harsh realities of children in need. Yet today, hardship is not always so visible. We may never know the quiet struggle of a coworker or the neighbor who wonders how to put food on the table.

May this prayer shape both our faith and our actions—calling us not only to ask God for daily bread, but also to notice, pray for, and provide for those who are still waiting to taste it.

Featured art: Thomas Kennington, Orphans, 1885, The Tate Museum, London