This carries with it precious truths as to the manner of the divine
gifts and the limit of our cares and anxieties.
God gives not all at once, but continuously, and in portions sufficient
for the day.
As with the manna fresh gathered every morning, so all our gifts from
Him are given according to the present exigencies.
Note the beauty and blessedness of this method of supplying our wants.
It gives to each moment its own special character, it gives to each the
glory of having in it a fresh gift of God. It binds all together in one
long line of brightness made up of an infinite number of points, each a
separate act of divine love, each a glittering sign of His presence. It
brings God very near to all life. It draws us closer to Him, by giving
us at each moment opportunity and need for feeling our dependence upon
Him, by bringing us once again to His throne that our wants may be
supplied. And as each moment, so each day, comes with its new duties and
its new wants. Yesterday's food nourishes us not to-day. To-day's
strength must come from this day's God and His new supplies. And thus
the monotony of life is somewhat broken, and there come to us all the
fresh vigour and the new hope of each returning day, and the merciful
wall of the night's slumber is built up between us and yesterday with
its tasks and its weariness. And fresh elastic hopes, along with renewed
dependence on God, should waken us morning by morning, as we look into
the unknown hours and say, 'Give us this day our daily bread.'
Then, again, let us learn not to try to abrogate this wise ordinance by
onward-looking anxieties. We have to exercise forethought, and not to
possess it is to be a poor creature, below the ant and the bee. No man
is in a favourable position for intellectual or moral growth who has not
some certainty in his life, and a reasonable prospect of such perpetuity
as is compatible with this changeful state. But that is a very different
thing from the careful, anxious forebodings in which we are all so prone
to indulge. These are profitless and harmful, robbing us of strength and
contributing nothing to our wisdom or to our security. They are contrary
to this law of the divine dealings that we shall get our rations as we
need them, no sooner; that the path will be opened when we come to it,
not till then. God knows the line of march, and will issue our route
each morning. God looks after the commissariat and saves us the trouble
of carrying it.
Let us try not to be 'over-inquisitive to cast the fashion of uncertain
evils,' nor magnify trouble in the fog of our own thoughts, but limit
our cares to to-day, and let to-morrow alone, for our God will be in it
as He has been in the past. He will never take us where He will not go
with us. Each day will have its own brightness, as each place its own
rainbow. If we are led into dry lands, there will be a fountain opened
in the desert, and He will feed us by His ravens ere we shall want.
Bread shall be given and water made sure. To-morrow shall be as this
day. Then let the veil still hang, nor try to lift it with the hand of
forecasting thought, nor be over-careful to make the future sure by
earthly means, but let present blessings be parents of bright hopes.
Remember Him who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. In Him
the past is unwept for and the future sure. Accept the merciful
limitations on His gifts, and let them be the limitations which you set
to your own desires while you pray, 'Give us this day our daily bread.'