Our Daily Bread (1 Kings 17:8-24) Sunday School Lesson on God’s Provision, Lord’s Prayer Part 5

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Finished Bread Plate Collage craft - crackers, pretzels, pasta and croutons glued to a paper plate with a card reading God gives all we need, our daily bread

Our Daily Bread — Sunday School Lesson on The Lord’s Prayer: Part Five. When we ask God to “give us this day our daily bread,” we express that we trust Him to provide what we need for each day as it comes. It’s easy to worry about all of the details of our lives, or to wonder what might be coming down the road. But God calls us to recognize that today has enough worries, and to have faith that He will supply us for today. God gives us what we need physically as well as spiritually, and He most importantly gives us Himself! It pairs with our Elijah and the Widow children’s sermon and our Thanksgiving Bread Basket and Bread Plate Collage crafts — and if you’d like the whole prayer in a print-and-teach format, start with the free sample lesson from Prayer Power Lab.

This lesson is the fifth in a series on The Lord’s Prayer, examining the prayer line by line to understand what it means for us and how it helps us have a blueprint for prayer. This lesson focuses on how God provides us with “our daily bread,” giving what we need each day. The story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath highlights how God helps us each day.

Passage: 1 Kings 17:8-24; Matthew 6:25-34

Target Audience: Kindergarten-6th grade

Materials Needed: Bread (loaves and slices), oil, flour, grocery receipts, planning books, Bibles.

Lesson Opening: God Gives Us What We Need

Start off with some activities to open up the “bread theme” or the thought that God provides. There are several fun options you could use for this, so choose one or two that work best for your audience. Here are some suggested ideas:

  • Bread shuffle relay: Split students into two teams. Have the groups line up and take turns racing across the room and back, with a “bready” twist! Have students balance slices or loaves of bread on their heads or on their feet as they make their way across the room.
  • Sandwich challenge: Select one student to be blindfolded. Have the other students guide them through the process of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, using only the sound of their instructions. This could also be done as a race between two teams.
  • Bake your own: If time allows, bring in bread dough and allow students to mold and shape it into rolls or small loaves. Bake the bread to sample at the end of class.
  • Oil and flour relay: To consider the story of Elijah and the widow, have children form teams and participate in a relay race, carrying spoonfuls of flour and oil back and forth (warning: this one gets messy, and might be best done outside!).
  • Bread around the world: Consider how cultures around the world consume different types of bread in various ways.
  • Daily bread (and then some): Have students come up with as many items as they can think of that would be found in their pantries, or on a recent grocery visit. Show a grocery receipt, discussing food costs. This can be overwhelming, but God promises to keep us fed!
  • Future plans: Show students a planner or agenda. Ask how they like to plan things, and how far in advance they usually plan.
  • Bread talk: Ask students what kind of bread they prefer. What do they use bread for? Have they ever made it from scratch? Why is bread so important? Explain that today’s Bible story has to do with bread, and with the Bread of Life, who takes care of us daily.

Ask: What is your favorite meal to eat?

Bible Lesson: Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17)

This lesson contains two suggested passages, each highlighting the theme of daily bread and God’s providence. The story of Elijah and the widow could be acted out, if desired. Students should be able to take turns reading verses, or you can read aloud for younger audiences.

Then the word of the Lord came to him (Elijah), “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” -1 Kings 17:8-12

It’s worth noting that, directly prior to this, Elijah had been hiding out by a brook because of a prophecy God had him deliver. While he was in hiding, ravens came and brought him food. So God himself had been quite literally providing Elijah’s meals! Now, God sent him to a widow. God used both the widow and Elijah in the end.

Explain to students that, in those days, women couldn’t work, so if they didn’t have a husband, it was often hard to take care of themselves or have money for food, and they were reduced to begging. For whatever reason, this particular widow was ready to give up. She was going to make one more meal for her and her son, and then starve to death. It sounds pretty drastic, but demonstrates the level of desperation she had come to.

Ask: Have you ever felt like you wanted to give up because something was too hard? Did someone encourage you in that time?

And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.'” And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah. -1 Kings 17:14-16

God performed a miracle through Elijah here. Even though there had only been enough left for one meal, the woman didn’t run out of oil and flour! It lasted for many days, and she was able to continue providing food for her family. Just as God provided her with supplies and helped her for many days, He provides us with what we need. There might come times when we don’t know how we are going to make it through a tough situation, but God gives us strength for one difficulty at a time, and supplies us for each day and moment.

After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” -1 Kings 17:17-24

This is an interesting “part two” of the account. Elijah helped the widow and her son to have enough food to keep them supplied. But later, her son passed away. The woman was upset with Elijah for keeping them alive, only to die later. It seems she was guilty about something, and thought that this was a punishment for her sin (maybe that’s also how she felt about running out of food). But Elijah pleaded with God, and the boy’s life was restored! God demonstrated grace, giving the widow her son back, regardless of what she’d done in life.

Ask: How can we trust that God will take care of us? How has He shown us grace, despite our actions?

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. -Matthew 6:25-34

This passage reminds us that God will take care of us, one day at a time. It’s easy to get worried about future details, whether we’re figuring out the next day or week, or wondering what will come of us years down the road. There’s nothing wrong with planning for the future, and that’s a wise thing. But God calls us not to get too caught up in those details. He doesn’t want us to worry about the little details of our lives, because He will take care of us. Each day is worrisome enough, and God will give us what we need for each day. When life gets overwhelming or we find ourselves worrying about tomorrow, we can take a step back and live in the present moment.

Ask: What kinds of things do you worry about? How can you remember to pause and focus on how God provides for each day?

Review Questions

  • How did God use Elijah to provide for the widow?
  • How does God provide what we need?
  • What can we do to trust in the Lord and not worry?

Close with prayer, thanking God for providing us with all of our needs, and asking Him to help us trust for the future.

The Lord’s Prayer Series for Kids

See the whole series on one page: The Lord’s Prayer Sunday School Lessons for Kids (8-Week Series).

More Lord’s Prayer Resources

Related Sunday School Activities:

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