The Lord’s Prayer — the 4th Petition
Give us this day our daily bread.
The purpose of this petition is two-fold. First, that we would recognize that all that we have is from God. And second, that we would give God thanks for all that we have.
One of my favorite exercises I go through with my confirmation classes is to talk about the bread we use to make a sandwich. We trace all the steps that it takes to get a piece of bread on the plate. We go through the grocer who sells us the bread and the bakery which combines the ingredients and bakes it. Then we must choose an ingredient, so let’s follow the flour. Flour comes from a miller. They get the wheat from a farmer who planted a seed and harvest the wheat. The seed comes from the creator. Even if it is from a seed manufacturer – the seed producer did not create the seed – God created the seed.
The purpose of the exercise is to show how God uses the seed, the farmer, the miller, the baker, and the grocer to bring you bread. But there is more to the exercise. When we buy bread, God is using us to provide for the farmer, the miller, the baker, and the grocer. And this is true whether you are a Christian or not. So, whether we are a farmer, miller, baker, grocer, or the consumer, God provides our daily bread because it all begins with God creating.
The fourth petition deals with far more than bread. When we pray for our daily bread, we are praying that God would supply what we require and not what we desire. Daily bread includes food, drink, clothing, house, home, health, a godly spouse. Because of the connections to work that we saw above, when we pray for our daily bread we are praying for the work we do to prosper and succeed as well.
Whenever we pray for our government, for God to preserve our spouse or our children, for good weather, for an end to conflict, for us to be protected from disasters, and so much more, we are elaborating on this petition. It applies to everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body. That includes our family, our home, the weather, our neighbors, and good government. When we lack these things, the necessities of life are more difficult to obtain, and the people suffer.
This prayer is also directed against the devil. Luther writes that the devil’s whole purpose and desire is to take away or interfere with all we have received from God. Not only does the devil want to destroy the right-hand kingdom of God, the church, by leading souls astray through lies, but he also wants to undermine the left-hand kingdom of God, civil authority by causing natural disasters, war, and contention between neighbors.
God does all of this for us. The Psalmist sings, “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.” (Psalm 145:15–16, ESV) All this he does out of His fatherly goodness, for all this it is our duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.
