Introduction

Our attention this morning is on the fourth petition of the Lord’s family prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread" (Mat. 6.11). At first glance, it appears that we have sadly plunged from a lofty spiritual plane deep into a miry secular world. From this angle, the fourth petition stands out from all the other petitions like a sore thumb. We scale the heights with ideas about God’s glory, kingdom, and will; these are spiritual high places but then we sharply descend from the spiritual/ethical/moral plane to the physical. People think it is retrogressive, downward, and down right unspiritual. However, some baggage foreign to Scripture controls this glance. Nowhere in the passage is there any hint that the fourth petition does not fit into the Lord’s family prayer pattern. The foreign baggage is a narrow view of God’s world, of creation as a whole in which a sacred versus secular compartmentalizing of life exists.

If we throw this foreign perspective to the side and consider the passage in its essential unity, we get the exact opposite impression. The place of concern for bread lifts the most basic issues of earthly life to the highest level of spiritual significance. By its context, bread –down to earth wheat and rye- has a high and noble place in Christian faith. Concern with "worldly affairs" is not a step down from spirituality. True spirituality engulfs the whole gambit of the "secular" world harnessing it all for the sake of God’s kingdom, for His glory, and in accordance with His will. Therefore, we can take up the fourth petition remembering that bread and butter reality is not an intrusion into prayer. Instead, it is a fundamental part of prayer. It is another indication that holiness, godliness, and spirituality are very earthy issues. Righteous living is very down to earth. In this light, we will consider three main ideas concerning the fourth petition: the basis, the focus, and the meaning (or goal) of prayer for daily bread. The title is therefore "Pray for Daily Bread."

1A. The Basis of prayer for daily bread

The foundation is God. A view of God is presupposed here. God, of course, is the one that we address in prayer. He is the object of all true prayer. That is, the one and only true and living God of Scripture is the object of true prayer. Note some things that this implies.

1) First, it implies that God is immanent

To say that God is immanent simply means that He is present and involved with all the details of life. He is not far away. He is here. The reality of His involvement with the little things of life accents His greatness. Our Father in heaven is immanent.

2) Second, it implies that He is good

We petition Him for daily bread according to His instruction. Therefore, this teaches us that the provision of bread and all food choices available in our world is a peculiar delight to the Lord. We have this from the very lips of our Lord in the marvelous Sermon on the Mount and in the classic "Lord’s Prayer."

Every good and perfect gift to just and unjust alike is from the Father "with whom there is no shadow of turning" (James 1.17). That means that He does not change but continues faithful in providing good gifts to people across the globe. He is the God of all creation, the maker of heaven, earth, sea, trees, fruit, grasses, and grains. He is benevolent providing food for animals both small and great in due season (Ps. 104.25, 27). He sent forth springs in the valleys that flow between the mountains giving drink to every beast of the field. He planted the Cedars in Lebanon. He made the moon for the seasons and the sun knows the place of its setting by His appointment.

In His common grace, He sends rain and sunshine on both the just and unjust, the thankful and the unthankful (Mat. 5.45). He showers us with His goodness for our good: Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness (Acts 14.17). We lose the vitality of prayer if we lack this perspective on the goodness of God.

3) He is purposeful

The total picture with a view of God and His involvement in sustaining life on earth might have a dark cast to it if we emphasize the problem of hunger in the world. How do we explain the lack? How do we think it through when praying for daily bread? The lack is due to sin. His involvement in sustaining life on earth is despite our horrific sinfulness! The good we receive is undeserved, all of it.

Furthermore, the lack is within God’s overall plan. It serves His will. He directs it to the great end of human history: the good of His people and His glory. He gathers all the facts (the millions and billions of them), interprets them, and guides them according to the counsel of His will.

Therefore, the fourth petition directs us to rest in the wisdom and power of God whose judgments are unsearchable and whose ways are past finding out. We do so because by asking for daily bread we indicate our dependence on the Lord who is here, good, and purposeful. Thus, we do not pray for bread in abstraction or in a void without conscious recognition of the Father who is present with us, working His good will for us as part of His perfect control of all the facts of "secular" history. Pray then in this way: "Father, our Father in heaven, maker of heaven and earth, we praise you for your goodness and thank you for the work you are doing. We thank you that you work all things together for the good of those who love you that you call your own. From your good, wise, and purposeful hand O Lord, give us this day our daily bread."

2A. The Focus of prayer for daily bread

In a word, the focus is work. This is but to say that the idea of work immediately and properly comes to mind when we petition God for daily bread. The reason for this should be obvious. God uses means (sometimes called second causes) by which He carries out His will in the world. The usual means by which He gives daily bread is work. We cannot, we should not, leave this out of consideration when praying for bread. You cannot pray for God’s gifts without work, irrespective of work, or against work. Work is part of the fourth of the Ten Commandments (cf. work six days and rest on the Sabbath like God).

You must remember the famous word of Paul to the Thessalonians in this regard, "if anyone will not work, neither let him eat" (2 Thess. 3.10). One must work to eat "his own bread" (2 Thess. 3.12). Here prayer for "our daily bread" is prayer for your own bread. Obtaining one’s own bread goes with work as the usual means by which God supplies us with every earthly good. Therefore, this petition reveals a philosophy of work. Work as the gift of God (granted and blessed by God through prayer as a means) is not secular but sacred. Consequently, it has dignity, productivity, and utility.

1) Dignity

It should be easy to see how work has dignity. It is God’s gift. It is not a punishment and not a drudgery to try to avoid or escape. It is central to the meaning of human life. It brings pleasure and fulfillment when performed according to the will of God and for the Lord as our master in heaven. In a fundamental sense, work defines man’s existence giving meaning to human life. It is not a curse due to sin, but the gift of God going back before the fall. It therefore has the highest dignity.

Thus, sloth is a great evil along with laziness, eye service, carelessness, and any "bad attitude" syndrome (or "tude" as they call it) that may affect our mental state or hearty effort at work. Work has a dignity and nobility about it from the drawing board to the kitchen because prayer grounds it, which shows that it is God’s gift. The fourth petition inevitably seasons our thinking in this direction raising at the same time our sense of value in each day’s activity and giving a zest to living (spring in our steps at work).

2) Productivity

Work also has productivity by the gift of God. We not only pray for work when praying for bread, we pray for productive work, for the fruit of our labors. We pray for income, gain, money from our labors according the blessing of God. We go into such and such a city with the goal of buying, selling and getting gain, "if the Lord wills" (James 4.15).

3) Utility

Finally, in this petition, we pray for the utility of our work, for its usefulness. That is, for the usefulness of the service we render for others. Here we define work as service to other people. We also pray for usefulness of the fruit of our labor that we will wisely use the money that God gives us. Thus, asking God to bless our stewardship of money and possessions is part of the fourth petition. This focus on work becomes a focus on our daily needs along with wise effort to earn money and wisdom in spending it. Thus, we have a philosophy of work that underlies our praying. Work has dignity as God’s gift, it has productivity by His giving, and it has utility by His blessing.

3A. The Meaning (or goal) of prayer for daily bread

Specifically, for what do we ask?

1) This is a prayer for the good things of life

Bread represents food, shelter, transportation and recreation; it represents all the good things of life in a work/rest pattern daily and weekly. It refers to the good things of life that contribute to good health. Thus, we pray that God will give us a portion of the good things that give us health and well-being. We seek the face of the Lord in full recognition of the realities of sickness, dying, and death. We know that this is a prayer for temporal health and well-being for the time and course of our pilgrimage. It is part of the health and well-being secured for us by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. This prayer raises our eyes to the future that God has in store for us. We are now on the way. On the path of pilgrims, we petition God for the good things of this life. We do so, of course, with a focus on work and we do so in submission to His sovereign will.

2) This is a prayer for the basics of life

We request daily bread. It is like the words of Proverbs 30.8, "Give us neither poverty nor riches, feed us with the food that is my portion." This is not a prayer for the most minimal of necessities but it is for the necessities of life. Necessity has a priority. Luxuries are not excluded; abundance is not excluded. The apple tree in your yard (or on your farm) may produce more than you can eat. Some of the apples may become food for animals and fertilizer for the earth. Expensive furnishings, good order to your home, pieces of art are useful in the big picture of glorifying God. Image bearing man has an eye for beauty because he reflects God’s delight in beauty.

Therefore, the idea here is that when push comes to shove budget wise, you pay your house payment before you buy a new sofa. This is probably the best caution against impulsive buying (buying out of stirred up emotions, peer pressure, keeping up with the Joneses, or to promote your ego and self-image). The principle that we acknowledge prayerfully here is that necessities have priority. We give attention to what we need daily first. If there is nothing left over this month because the money runs out before the month runs out, then you give thanks.

3) This is a prayer for the joy or enjoyment of life

What is the value of anything or of all that we possess (health and good things) if we are at a loss for happiness? Mistakenly, we think that we will find happiness at the end of the rainbow when we lay hold of the proverbial pot of gold. However, a little sober reflection reveals that this certainly not true. Consider the statement, "when I get to the end of my life, I do not want to just have the shirt on my back. I want something to show for my life (property, business, this or that thing I own). However, at the end (and notably so!) there is no difference between the rich and the poor. When you are in the casket sprinkled with flowers, what difference does it make whether its felt lined, brass coated, gold plated, or a pine box?

One might say, "Okay, in the end we are all the same, but I am concerned about how it goes along the way. There, on the road of life, I want abundance and why shouldn’t I have it?" Here is a pointed reply: if a desire for abundance consumes you, then you will never have enough and you will never find true happiness.

Remember, not all the rich are happy and not all the poor are sad. Happiness is somewhere else. It is not the possession of the rich or the poor per se. It is a relationship with God and a walk according to Scripture. Happiness is a point of view. It is a matter of trust, faith, and a sense of God’s Fatherly care. To be content is to be happy; it means to be full and calm in God’s service. The bottom line is not how far you get but truly how you get there. The most important part of your tombstone is the dash that stands between your birth and death; what is in between, that is what is most important. Are your days lived for Christ? Per the fourth petition, you pray for the good things of life and the enjoyment of them according to the will of God. Notice that we have not descended from the high spiritual plane of the first three petitions for we seek God’s will, acknowledging Him as king, and aiming at His glory in our obtaining, using, and enjoying daily bread. Happiness is living a day at a time in the comfort of God’s presence. This is a prayer for faith, patience, perspective, contentment, and self-realization on earth in obedience to God while working hard for His glory. Value and delight come by working each day according to God’s directives, in His presence, under His authority, and for His glory. Then God is your delight in life whether you are rich or poor.

In summary, the goal of the fourth petition is that you ask for the good things of life, for the basics, and for joy in gaining and using them.

Conclusion

1) Pray then in this way for yourself and others. Pray for work and from work. Pray for employment or work for money (for your needs, desires, food, clothes, shelter, health and happiness). Pray in this way under the umbrella of the first three petitions, which are for the honor of God’s name, submission to His kingly authority, and obedience to His will. From your daily work, look up to God and seek His blessings to both glorify and enjoy God and life itself.

2) Acknowledge your dependence on the Lord. Submit to what He chooses to give while you work hard at your job. Put forth much wise effort in conjunction with a willing acceptance of whatever He decides to bring to pass in your life.

3) Be content with what you have by committing all your wants and needs to God in prayer for daily bread (cf. Heb. 13.5, Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."). Seek the basics; seek His blessing most of all. Therefore, pray about down to earth bread and butter and so called "worldly affairs" that in them all God may be your greatest possession, your portion, your treasure through Jesus Christ, raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high. Pray for the glory of God and the enjoyment of God through His gifts.