This contains first an important lesson as to what may be legitimately
the subject of our prayers.
The Lord by this juxtaposition condemns the overstrained and fantastic
spiritualism which tramples down earthly wants and condemns desires
rooted in our physical nature as sin. It is a wonderful testimony from
Jesus of the worth of common gifts, that the desire for them should here
stand beside that great one for the doing of God's will. There is
nothing here of the false asceticism which undervalues the life which
now is, nothing of the morbid tone of feeling which despises and
condemns as sinful the due appreciation of and desire for the blessings
of this life. To give predominance to material wants and earthly good is
heathen and unchristian, therefore the petition for these follows the
others. But to despise them and pretend to be indifferent to them is
heathen and unchristian too; therefore the prayer for them finds its
place among the others. So the right understanding of this prayer is a
barrier against the opposite evils of a false sensuousness which forgets
the spirit that is in the flesh, and of a false spirituality which
forgets the flesh that is around the spirit. He who made us desire truth
in the inward parts, made us also to desire our daily bread, and we
observe His order when we do both, and seek the Kingdom of God, not
exclusively, but first.
And not only is this petition the vindication of a healthy naturalism,
but it also shows us that we may rightly make prayers of our desires for
earthly things.
We sometimes hear it said that we have only a right to ask God for such
gifts as holiness and conformity to His will. This has a truth, a great
truth, in it. But it may be overstrained. We are to subdue our wishes,
we are to be more anxious for our soul's health than for our bodily
wants. We are to present our desires concerning all things in this life,
with an implied 'if it be Thy will,' but while all that is true, we are
also to ask Him for these lower blessings. Our prayers should include
all which we desire, all which we need. Our desires should be such as we
can turn into prayers. If we dare not ask God for a thing, do not let us
seek for it. But whatever we do want, let us go to Him for it, and be
sure that He does not wish lip homage and fine-sounding petitions for
things for which we do not really care, but that He does desire that we
should be frank with Him, making a prayer of every wish, and seeing that
we have neither wishes which we dare not make prayers, nor prayers which
are not really wishes. Let our supplications cover all the ground of our
daily wants, and be true to our own souls. If any man lack anything, let
him ask of God, who giveth to all men life and breath and all things.
Then still further--the prayer is the recognition of God as the Giver of
daily bread.
'Thou openest Thine hand,' says the old psalm, 'and satisfiest the
desire of every living thing.' There is no part of the divine dealings
of which the Bible speaks more frequently and more lovingly than His
supply of all creatures' wants. It is a grand thought, 'Who feedeth the
young ravens when they cry, who maketh the grass to grow on the
mountains. The eyes of all wait upon Thee.' There is a magnificent verse
in the 104th Psalm, which regards even the roar of the lion prowling for
its prey in midnight forests as a cry to God--'The young lions seek
their meat from God.' As Luther says somewhere in his rough prose--'Even
to feed the sparrows God spends more than the revenues of the French
king would buy.' And that universal bounty applies truly to those whose
lot is 'In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread.' For us it is
true. God feeds _us_. 'Thou givest meat to them that fear Thee, Thou
wilt ever be mindful of Thy covenant.' In giving us our daily bread, His
hand is hid under second causes, but these should not mask the truth
from us.
God is the life of nature. His will is the power whose orderly working
we call nature's laws. Force is the sign manual of God. There would be
no harvest, no growth, unless to each seed God gave a body as it hath
pleased Him. The existence of bread is the effect of His work. 'He hath
not left Himself without witness in that He giveth rain from heaven and
fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.' as Paul
said to the rough farmer folk of Lycaonia.
The distribution of the bread is of God.
By second causes, our work and other means.
Be it so. Here is a steam engine, in one room away at one end of your
mill; here is a spindle whirring five hundred yards off. What then? Who
thinks that that bit of belting moves the drum round which it turns, or
that the cog-wheel that carries the motion originates it? The motion
here has force at the other end, the effect here has its cause in God.
The nourishment by bread is of God.
'Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God.'
The reason why any natural substance has properties is by reason of
present will of God; they reside not in itself, but in Him.
All this we say that we believe when we pray this prayer.
How much it conflicts with our modern habit of putting God as far away
from daily life as we can!
The prayer is the consecration of our work for bread.
The indirect way by which it is answered is a great blessing, and it
pledges us to labour.
_Orare est laborare._ Not, as it is sometimes quoted, as if toil was to
do instead of prayer, but that active life may be consecrated to God,
and all our efforts which terminate in gaining bread for ourselves and
for those we love may become prayer, and be offered to God.
How can we pray for God to give us our daily bread, and then go to seek
it by means which we dare not avow or defend in our prayers? Bless my
cheating, bless my sharp practice, bless my half-heartedness. It is no
part of my business to apply principles to details of conduct, but it is
my business to say--take this prayer for a test, and if you dare not pray
it over what you do in earning your living, ask yourself whether you are
not rather earning your _death_.
Then the prayer is a pledge of thankful recognition of God in our
blessings.
Ah! dear friends, are we not all guilty in this? How utterly heathenish
is our oblivion of God in our daily life! How far we have come from that
temper which recognises Him in all joys, and begins every new day with
Him! Daily mercies demand daily songs of praise. His love wakens us
morning by morning. It follows us all the day long with its fatherly
benefits. It reveals itself anew every time He spreads our table, every
time He gives us teaching or joy. And our thanksgiving and consciousness
of His presence should be as constant as are His gifts. 'My voice shalt
thou hear in the morning.' 'They walk all the day long in the light of
Thy countenance.' 'I will both lay me down in peace and sleep.' 'They
ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.'