file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940720.txt
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OUR DAILY BREAD                    Wednesday, July 20, 1994
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Read:  Matthew 7:7-11

                   "A STONE OF BREAD?"

            What man is there among you who,
            if his son asks for bread, will
                   give him a stone?

                                   - Matthew 7:9

No loving father would give a stone or a snake to his hungry
son if he asked him for a piece of bread or a fish.  Jesus
used the absurdity of that analogy in Matthew 7 to under-
score God's readiness to give good things to His disciples
when they asked Him.  He wanted them to have complete confi-
dence in the heavenly Father's provision for their spiritual
needs.

Sometimes, however, it may seem as if the Lord has given us
"stones" instead of "bread."  But in His wisdom, He actually
is working through our circumstances to give us something
far better than what we requested.  An unknown author ex-
pressed it this way:

I asked for heath that I might do greater things;
   I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked God for strength that I might achieve;
   I was made weak that I might learn to obey.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
   I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power and the praise of men;
   I was given weakness to sense my need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
   I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing I asked for but everything I hoped for;
   In spite of myself, my prayers were answered -
I am among all men most richly blest.
   Yes, God always gives us what's best for us.

Author:  Richard W. De Haan

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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We may ask amiss,
   but he answers aright.

The Bible in One Year:  Isaiah 40-42

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