"Give us this day our daily bread." (Matthew 6:11)
Nothing less than divine wisdom could have framed this petition, so simple and so reasonable is it.
Human greed would ask for enough today to supply all possible wants for the future; but if that were granted, the person could use no more of it today than he would use if he had only enough for today's needs.
Not only so, but human greed would overreach itself. Thus, if the man should today receive enough for all time, he would have no occasion to ask for anything tomorrow. He would trust in his possession instead of God, and would soon forget God.
Thus cutting himself off from the only power that can bestow and preserve, he would soon lose what he has, and then have nothing either for today or tomorrow. Riches make to themselves wings and fly away.
But the man who every day asks for provision sufficient for that day, with the assurance that he will receive it, is far better off. He has enough for today, and that is all he could use anyway. And then he does not wear himself out in the vain effort to take care of property that he has stored up for the future. His future supply is in the hands of God, who thus becomes his banker.
Surely the man who has all he needs, just when he needs it, while someone else takes care of that which he does not actually need, is far better off than the man who has only what he needs today, but who is burdened with the care of a lot of stuff that he may never need.
This petition teaches contentment. The conclusions in the preceding paragraph are in harmony with the teaching of the apostle Paul. Said he: "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Timothy 6:6-10)
Here the apostle brings out an additional danger from not trusting God for our daily bread. It is that the man having more than he needs for today, is tempted to use more than he needs. Thus his thoughts become centered entirely on self and the gratification of his own desires and lusts, which increase and multiply with the gratification, until he is finally drowned in perdition. The apostle continues: "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy." (1 Timothy 6:17)
This is in harmony with the petition which the Lord has taught us. We are not taught that to have riches is sin, for the Lord gives some men power to get wealth, but that the sin comes in setting one's heart upon them. The possession of riches is a great danger for Christ says: "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:23)
This is because it is next to impossible for one who has riches to keep from setting his heart upon them, and so neglecting to trust in the living God, and forgetting that it is God who gives us all things richly to enjoy. This is taught by the parable in Luke 12: "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully." (Luke 12:16)
Here we see that it was not the man's superior skill that brought him his wealth, but the providence of God in giving "rain and fruitful seasons." And the man thought: "What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits, and my goods, And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink and be merry." (Luke 12:17-19)
If he had listened to the Lord, he might have known what to do with his goods. Says the inspired word: "Charge them that are rich. ... That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." (1 Timothy 6:17-19)
Instead of this, the man trusted in his riches, and had nothing. "But God said unto him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you; then whose shall those things be which you have provided?" (Luke 12:20)
Why is the man called a fool? Because the fool, according to the Bible, is one who says "in his heart, There is no God." (Psalm 14:1)
This man acted as though there were no God, because he assumed that he must take care of himself, and left God out of the account altogether. He may have been a professor of religion, but he was practically an atheist.
There are thousands of such men in the world today. But no matter how much they exalt themselves (for the man who by his actions assumes that his prosperity depends upon himself alone, virtually puts himself in the place of God), they will in the end be put in fear, and be made to know that they are but men. "So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:21)
We have already read from Paul the injunction to rich men to lay up store for themselves "a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." (1 Timothy 6:19)
In the Sermon on the Mount Christ said: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust corrupts, and where thieves break through and steal; But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupts, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)
Neither of these texts implies that the kingdom of God can be bought with money. But they both teach that no man can reach Heaven unless he has his treasure there. It is not that his wealth buys him a place in the kingdom of God, but that his thoughts are of God and Heaven, and thus he prepares for Heaven. In all his ways he acknowledges God, and thus God directs his paths.
At the present time the principle contained in the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread," needs to be taught; because the tendency of the last days is all against it. We read: "Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days." (James 5:1-3)
This does not apply to the millionaires alone, but to all who are heaping treasure. That is, to all who allow their treasures to "heap" up or accumulate.
Some time ago we saw a gold piece that was discolored by rust. We asked what caused it, and learned that it had been paid out by a woman who, having a little more money than she needed, had buried the surplus in the ground. She was not a rich woman, but we could not help thinking of the words of James. But the principle of heaping up treasure was there, which showed distrust of God. And what made it worse was that the woman professed to believe in the soon coming of the Lord.
Whether we are poor or rich, let us "beware of covetousness; for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses." (Luke 12:15)
And let us not fear to trust the Lord, knowing that if God clothes the grass and the lilies of the field in beauty, and provides for the sustenance of the birds of the air, He will much more care for those whom He has bought with the blood of His own dear Son. The sacrifice of Christ is the pledge of God's care for us. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)--Signs of the Times, March 31, 1887.