THE LIVING WORD

Today's promise: God will help you understand his Word

The living Word

Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, and asked God's blessing on the food. Breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples to give to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish.

Mark 6:41-43 NLT

Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,
As though didst break the loaves beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee, O Living Word!

Mary Artemisia Lathbury

Bread of Life

While Break Thou the Bread of Life is often sung during Communion, it is really intended to prepare the heart for Bible study. The great London preacher G. Campbell Morgan customarily read the words of the hymn before his midweek service.

The author, Mary Lathbury, was better known as a commercial artist than as a poet. Her illustrations regularly appeared in the popular magazines of the 19th century. She was a devout Christian who often vacationed at Lake Chautauqua, where she became one of the founders of a new movement. Mixing Christian inspiration, culture, and education, the Chautauqua movement spread across the country.…As she sat with her Bible, overlooking Lake Chautauqua, she thought of the disciples at the Sea of Galilee and wrote this hymn. Mary Lathbury's desire was to take Bible students "beyond the sacred page" to meet the living Word.

From The One Year Book of Hymns (Tyndale House), entry for February 15

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House