Now looking at this petition in itself, I note—­

I. The prayer for Bread.

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.