The Lord's Prayer
by Thomas Watson
File 18
(... continued from file 17)
The Fourth Petition in the Lord's Prayer
'Give us this day our daily bread.' Matt 6: 11
In this petition there are two things observable - the order,
and the matter.
I. First, we pray, 'Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy
will be done,' before we pray, 'Give us this day our daily bread.'
God's glory ought to weigh down all before it; it must be preferred
before our dearest concerns. Christ preferred his Father's glory
before his own as he was man. 'I honour my Father, I seek not mine
own glory.' John 8: 49, 50. God's glory is that which is most dear
to him; it is the apple of his eye; all his riches lie here. As
Micah said, 'What have I more' (Judges 18: 24), so I may say of
God's glory, what has he more? His glory is the most orient pearl of
his crown, which he will not part with. 'My glory will I not give to
another.' Isa 42: 8. God's glory is more worth than heaven, more
worth than the salvation of all men's souls; better kingdoms be
demolished, better men and angels be annihilated, than God lose any
part of his glory. We are to prefer God's glory before our nearest
concerns; but before we prefer God's glory to our private concerns,
we must be born again. The natural man seeks his own secular
interest before God's glory. He is 'of the earth, earthly.' John 3:
31. Let him have peace and trading, let the rock pour out rivers of
oil, and let God's glory go which way it will, he minds it not. A
worm cannot fly and sing as a lark; so a natural man, whose heart
creeps upon the earth, cannot admire God, or advance his glory, as a
man elevated by grace does.
Use. For trial. Do we prefer God's glory before our private
concerns? Minus te amat qui aliquid tecum amat, quod non propter te
amat [He loves thee too little, who loves anything as well as thee
which he does not love for thy sake]. Augustine. (1) Do we prefer
God's glory before our own credit? Fama pari passu ambulat cum vita
[Credit keeps pace with life]. Credit is a jewel highly valued; like
precious ointment, it casts a fragrant smell; but God's glory must
be dearer than credit or applause. We must be willing to have our
credit trampled upon, that God's glory may be raised higher. The
apostles rejoiced 'that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for
his name;' that they were graced so far as to be disgraced for
Christ. Acts 5: 41. (2) Do we prefer God's glory before our
relations? Relations are dear, they are of our own flesh and bones;
but God's glory must be dearer. 'If any man come to me, and hate not
his father and mother, he cannot be my disciple.' Luke 14: 26. Here
odium in suos [hatred towards one's own kin] is pietas in Deum
[devotion towards God]. 'If my friends,' says Jerome, 'should
persuade me to deny Christ, if my wife should hang about my neck, if
my mother should show me her breasts that gave me suck, I would
trample upon all and flee to Christ.' (3) We must prefer God's glory
before estate. Gold is but shining dust: God's glory must weigh
heavier. If it come to this, I cannot keep my place of profit, but
God's glory will be eclipsed, I must rather suffer in my estate than
God's glory should suffer. Heb 10: 34. (4) We must prefer God's
glory before our life. 'They loved not their lives unto the death.'
Rev 12: 2. Ignatius called his fetters his spiritual jewels; he wore
them as a chain of pearl. Gordius the martyr, said, 'It is to my
loss, if you bate me anything of my sufferings. This argues grace to
be growing and elevated in a high degree. Who but a soul inflamed
with love to God can set God highest on the throne, and prefer him
above all private concerns?
II. The second thing in the petition is, the matter of it.
'Give us this day our daily bread.' The sum of this petition is,
that God would give us such a competency in outward things as he
sees most excellent for us. It is much like that prayer of Augur,
'Feed me with food convenient for me;' give me a viaticum, a bait by
the way, enough to bear my charges till I come to heaven, and it
suffices. Prov 30: 8. Let me explain the words, 'Give us this day
our daily bread.' The good things of this life are the gifts of God;
he is the donor of all our blessings. 'Give us.' Not faith only, but
food is the gift of God; not daily grace only is from God, but
'daily bread;' every good thing comes from God. 'Every good gift is
from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.' James 1: 17.
Wisdom is the gift of God. 'His God does instruct him to
discretion.' Isa 28: 26. Riches are the gift of God. 'I will give
thee riches.' 2 Chron 1: 12. Peace is the gift of God. 'He maketh
peace in thy borders.' Psa 147: 14. Health, which is the cream of
life, is the gift of God. 'I will restore health unto thee.' Jer 30:
17. Rain is the gift of God. 'Who giveth rain upon the earth.' Job
5: 10. All comes from God; he makes the corn to grow, and the herbs
to flourish.
(1) See our own poverty and indigence. We all live upon alms
and upon free gifts - 'Give us this day.' All we have is from the
hand of God's royal bounty; we have nothing but what he gives us out
of his storehouse; we cannot have one bit of bread but from God. The
devil persuaded our first parents, that by disobeying God, they
should 'be as gods;' but we may now see what goodly gods we are,
that we have not a bit of bread to put in our mouths unless God give
it us. Gen 3: 5. That is a humbling consideration,
(2) Is all a gift? Then we are to seek every mercy from God by
prayer. 'Give us this day.' The tree of mercy will not drop its
fruit unless shaken by the hand of prayer. Whatever we have, if it
do not come in the way of prayer, it does not come in the way of
love; it is given, as Israel's quails, in anger. If everything be a
gift, we do not deserve it, we are not fit for this alms. And must
we go to God for every mercy? How wicked are they, who, instead of
going to God for food when they want, go to the devil, and make a
compact with him; and if he will help them to a livelihood, they
will give him their souls? Better starve than go to the devil for
provender. I wish there were none in our age guilty of this, who,
when they are in want, use indirect means for a livelihood; they
consult with witches, who are the devil's oracles, whose end will be
fearful, as that of Saul was, whom the Lord is said to have killed,
because he asked counsel at a familiar spirit.
(3) If all be a gift, then it is not a debt, and we cannot say
to God as that creditor who said, 'Pay me that thou owest.' Matt 18:
28. Who can make God a debtor, or do any act that is obliging and
meritorious? Whatever we receive from God is a gift; we can give
nothing to him but what he has given to us. 'All things come of
thee, and of thine own have we given thee. ' I Chron 29: 14. David
and his people offered to the building of God's house gold and
silver, but they offered nothing but what God had given them. 'Of
thine own have we given thee.' If we love God, it is he that has
given us a heart to love him; if we praise him, he both gives us the
organ of tongue, and puts it in tune; if we give alms to others, he
has given alms to us first, so that we may say, 'We offer, O Lord,
of thine own to thee.' Is all of gift, how absurd, then, is the
doctrine of merit? That was a proud speech of the friar, who said,
redde mihi Vitam Eternam quam debes; give me, Lord eternal life,
which thou owest me. We cannot deserve a bit of bread, much less a
crown of glory. If all be a gift, then merit is exploded, and shut
out of doors.
(4) If all be a gift, then take notice of God's goodness. There
is nothing in us that can deserve or requite God's kindness; yet
such is the sweetness of his nature, that he gives us rich
provision, and feeds us with the finest of the wheat. Pindar says it
was an opinion of the people of Rhodes that Jupiter rained down gold
upon the city. God has rained down golden mercies upon us; he is
upon the giving hand. Observe three things in his giving:
[1] He is not weary of giving; the springs of mercy are ever
running. He not only dispensed blessings in former ages, but he
gives gifts to us; as the sun not only enriches the world with its
morning light, but keeps light for the meridian. The honeycomb of
God's bounty is still dropping.
[2] He delights in giving. 'He delighteth in mercy.' Mic 7: 18.
As the mother delights to give the child the breast, God loves that
we should have the breast of mercy in our mouth.
[3] God gives to his very enemies. Who will send in provisions
to his enemies? Men spread nets for their enemies, God spreads a
table. The dew drops on the thistle as well as the rose; the dew of
God's bounty drops upon the worst. God puts bread in the mouths that
are opened against him. Oh, the royal bounty of God! 'The goodness
of God endureth continually.' Psa 52: 1. He puts jewels upon swinish
sinners, and feeds them every day.
(5) If all be a gift, see the odious ingratitude of men who sin
against their giver! God feeds them, and they fight against him; he
gives them bread, and they give him affronts. How unworthy is this!
Should we not cry shame of him who had a friend always feeding him
with money, and yet he should betray and injure him? Thus
ungratefully do sinners deal with God; they not only forget his
mercies, but abuse them. 'When I had fed them to the full, they then
committed adultery.' Jer 5: 7. Oh, how horrid is it to sin against a
bountiful God! - to strike the hands that relieve us! How many make
a dart of God's mercies and shoot at him! He gives them wit, and
they serve the devil with it; he gives them strength, and they waste
it among harlots; he gives them bread to eat, and they lift up the
heel against him. 'Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked.' Deut 32: 15. They
are like Absalom, who, as soon as David his father kissed him,
plotted treason against him. 2 Sam 15: 10. They are like the mule
who kicks the dam after she has given it milk. Those who sin against
their giver, and abuse God's royal favours, the mercies of God will
come in as witnesses against them. What smoother than oil? But if it
be heated, what more scalding? What sweeter than mercy? But if it be
abused, what more dreadful? It turns to fury.
(6) If God gives us all, let his giving excite us to
thanksgiving. He is the founder and donor of all our blessings, and
should have all our acknowledgements. 'Unto the place from whence
the rivers come, thither they return again.' Eccl 1: 7. All our
gifts come from God, and to him must all our praises return. We are
apt to burn incense to our own drag, to attribute all we have to our
own second causes. Hab 1: 16.
[1] Our own skill and industry. God is the giver; he gives
daily bread. Psa 136: 25; he gives riches. 'It is he that giveth
thee power to get wealth.' Deut 8: 18.
Or [2], We often ascribe the praise to second causes and forget
God. If friends have bestowed an estate, we look at them and admire
them, but not God who is the great giver; as if one should be
thankful to the steward, and never take notice of the master of the
family that provides all. Oh, if God gives all, our eye-sight, our
food, our clothing, let us sacrifice the chief praise to him; let
not God be a loser by his mercies. Praise is a more illustrious part
of God's worship. Our wants may send us to prayer, nature may make
us beg daily bread; but it shows a heart full of ingenuity and grace
to be rendering praises to God. In petition we act like men, in
praise we act like angels. Does God sow seeds of mercy? Let
thankfulness be the crop we bring forth. We are called the temples
of God, and where should God's praises be sounded forth but in his
temples? I Cor 3: 16; 'While I live will I praise the Lord, I will
sing praises unto my God while I have any being.' Psa 146: 2. God
gives us daily bread, let us give him daily praise. Thankfulness to
our donor is the best policy; there is nothing lost by it. To be
thankful for one mercy is the way to have more. Musicians love to
sound their trumpets where there is the best echo, and God loves to
bestow his mercies where there is the best echo of praise. Offering
the calves of our lips is not enough, but we must show our
thankfulness by improving the gifts which God gives us, and as it
were putting them out to use. God gives us an estate, and we honour
the Lord with our substance. Prov 3: 9. He gives us the staff of
bread, and we lay out the strength we receive by it in his service;
this is to be thankful; and that we may be thankful, let us be
humble. Pride stops the current of gratitude. A proud man will never
be thankful; he looks upon all he has either to be of his own
procuring or deserving. Let us see all we have is God's gift, and
how unworthy we are to receive the least favour; and this will make
us much in doxology and gratitude; we shall be silver trumpets
sounding forth God's praise.
[1] Thus we argue from the word "Give", that the good things of
this life are the gifts of God; he is the founder and donor; and
that it is not unlawful to pray for temporal things. We may pray for
daily bread. 'Feed me with food convenient for me.' Prov 30: 8. We
may pray for health. 'O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.' Psa
6: 2. As these are in themselves good things, so they are useful for
us; they are as needful for preserving the comfort of life as oil is
needful for preserving the lamp from going out. Only let me insert
two things:
(1) There is a great difference between praying for tempera]
things and spiritual. In praying for spiritual things we must be
absolute. When we pray for pardon of sin, and the favour of God, and
the sanctifying graces of the Spirit, which are indispensably
necessary to salvation, we must take no denial; but when we pray for
temporal things, our prayers must be limited; we must pray
conditionally, so far as God sees them good for us. He sometimes
sees cause to withhold temporal things from us: when they would be
snares, and draw our hearts from him; therefore we should pray for
these things with submission to God's will. It was Israel's sin that
they would be peremptory and absolute in their desire for temporal
things; God's bill of fare did not please them, they must have
dainties. 'Who shall give us flesh to eat?' Numb 11: 18. God has
given them manna, he fed them with a miracle from heaven, but their
wanton palates craved more: they must have quails. God let them have
their desire, but they had sour sauce to their quails. 'While their
meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them and
slew them.' Psa 78: 31. Rachel was importunate in her desires for a
child. 'Give me children, or I die;' God let her have a child, but
it was a Ben-oni, a son of my sorrow; it cost her her life in
bringing forth. Gen 30: 1; Gen 35: 18. We must pray for outward
things with submission to God's will, else they come in anger.
(2) When we pray for things pertaining to this life, we must
desire temporal things for spiritual ends; we must desire these
things to be as helps in our journey to heaven. If we pray for
health, it must be that we may improve this talent of health for
God's glory, and may be fitter for his service; if we pray for a
competency of estate, it must be for a holy end, that we may be kept
from the temptations which poverty usually exposes to, and that we
may be in a better capacity to sow the golden seeds of charity, and
relieve such as are in want. Temporal things must be prayed for for
spiritual ends. Hannah prayed for a child, but it was for this end,
that her child might be devoted to God. 'O Lord, if thou wilt
remember me, and wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I
will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.' I Sam 1: 11.
Many pray for outward things only to gratify their sensual
appetites, as the ravens cry for food. Psa 147: 9. To pray for
outward things only to satisfy nature, is to cry rather like ravens
than Christians. We must have a higher end in our prayers, we must
aim at heaven while we are praying for earth. Must we pray for
temporal things for spiritual ends, that we may be fitter to serve
God? Then how wicked are they who beg temporal mercies that they may
be more enabled to sin against God! 'Ye ask that ye may consume it
upon your lusts.' James 4: 3. One man is sick, and he prays for
health that he may be among his cups and harlots; another prays for
an estate; he would not only have his belly filled, but his barns;
and he would be rich that he may raise his name, or that, having
more power in his hand, he may now take a fuller revenge on his
enemies. It is impiety joined with impudence to pray to God to give
us temporal things that we may be the better enabled to serve the
devil.
If we are to pray for temporal things, how much more for
spiritual? If we are to pray for bread, how much more for the bread
of life? If for oil, how much more for the oil of gladness? If to
have our hunger satisfied, much more should we pray to have our
souls saved. Alas! what if God should hear our prayers, and grant us
these temporal things and no more, what were we the better? What is
it to have food and want grace? What is it to have the back clothed
and the soul naked? To have a south land, and want the living
springs in Christ's blood, what comfort could that be? O therefore
let us be earnest for spiritual mercies! Lord, not only feed me, but
sanctify me; give me rather a heart full of grace than a house full
of gold. If we are to pray for daily bread, the things of this life,
much more for the things of the life that is to come.
Some may say we have an estate already, and what need we pray,
'Give us daily bread'?
Supposing we have a plentiful estate, yet we need make the
petition, 'Give us daily bread;' and that upon a double account.
(1) That we may have a blessing upon our food, and all that we
enjoy. 'I will bless her provision.' Psa 132: 15. 'Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God.' Matt 4: 4. What is that but a word of blessing?
Though the bread is in our hand, yet the blessing is in God's hand,
and it must be fetched out of his hand by prayer. Well, therefore,
may rich men pray, 'Give us our bread,' let it be seasoned with a
blessing. If God should withhold a blessing, nothing we have would
do us good; our clothes would not warm us, our food would not
nourish us. 'He gave them their request, but sent leanness into
their soul;' that is, they pined away, and their meat did not
nourish them. Psa 106: 15. If God should withhold a blessing, what
we eat would turn to bad humours, and hasten death. If God do not
bless our riches, they will do us more hurt than good. 'Riches kept
for the owners thereof to their hurt.' Eccl 5: 13. So that, granting
we have plentiful estates, yet we had need pray, 'Give us our
bread;' let us have a blessing of what we have.
(2) Though we have estates, yet we had need pray, Give, that we
may hereby engage God to continue these comforts to us. How many
casualties may fall out! How many have had corn in their barn, and a
fire has come on a sudden and consumed all! How many have had losses
at sea, and great estates boiled away to nothing! 'I went out full,
and the Lord has brought me home again empty.' Ruth 1: 21.
Therefore, though we have estates, yet we had need pray, 'Give us;'
Lord, give us a continuance of these comforts, that they may not,
before we are aware, take wings and fly from us. So much for the
first word in the petition, Give.
[2] Secondly, us. 'Give us.'
Why do we pray in the plural, 'Give us'? Why is it not said,
give me?
To show that we are to have a public spirit in prayer. We must
not only pray for ourselves, but others. Both the law of God and the
law of love bind us to this, we must love our neighbour as
ourselves; therefore we must pray for them as well as ourselves.
Every good Christian has a fellow-feeling of the wants and miseries
of others, and he prays God would extend his bounty to them;
especially he prays for the saints. 'Praying always for all saints.'
Eph 6: 18. These are children of the family.
Use 1. Should we have a public spirit in prayer? It reproves
narrow spirited men who move within their own sphere only; who look
only at themselves, and mind not the case of others; who leave
others out of their prayers; if they have daily bread, they care not
though others starve; if they are clothed, they care not though
others go naked. Christ taught us to pray for others, to say, 'Give
us;' but selfish persons are shut up within themselves, as the snail
in the shell, and never speak a word in prayer for others. These
have no commiseration or pity; they are like Judas, whose bowels
fell out.
Use 2. Let us pray for others as well as for ourselves. Vir
bonus aliis prodest aeque ac sibi [A good man benefits others as
much as himself]. Spiders work only for themselves, but bees for the
good of others. The more excellent anything is, the more it operates
for the good of others. Springs refresh others with their crystal
streams; the sun enlightens others with its golden beams: the more a
Christian is ennobled with grace, the more he besieges heaven with
his prayers for others. If we are members of the mystic body, we
cannot but have a sympathy with others in their wants; and this
sympathy would lead us to pray for them. David had a public spirit
in prayer. 'Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good.' Psa 125: 4.
Though he begins the Psalm with prayer for himself, 'Have mercy upon
me, O God,' yet he ends the Psalm with prayer for others. 'Do good
in thy good pleasure unto Zion.' Psa 51: 1, 18.
Use 3. It is matter of comfort to the godly, who are but low in
the world, that they have the prayers of God's people for them; who
pray not only for the increase of their faith, but their food, that
God will give them 'daily bread.' He is like to be rich who has
several stocks going; so they are in a likely way to thrive who have
the prayers of the saints going for them in several parts of the
world.
[3] The third word in the petition is 'This day.' We pray not
give us bread for a month or a year, but a day. 'Give us this day.'
Is it not lawful to lay up for the future? Does not the apostle
say, that he who provides not for his family, 'is worse than an
infidel'? I Tim 5: 8.
True, it is lawful to lay up for posterity; but our Saviour has
taught us to pray, 'Give us this day our bread,' for two reasons:
(1) That we should not have anxious care for the future. We
should not set our wits upon the tenter, or torment ourselves how to
lay up great estates; if we do vivere in diem [live for the day], if
we have but enough to supply for the present, it should suffice.
'Give us this day:' 'Take no thought for the morrow.' Matt 6: 34.
God fed Israel with manna in the wilderness, and he fed them from
hand to mouth. Sometimes all their manna was spent; and if anyone
had asked them where they would have their breakfast next morning,
they would have said, 'Our care is only for the day: God will rain
down what manna we need. If we have bread to-day, let us not
distrust God's providence for the future.'
(2) Our Saviour will have us pray, 'Give us bread this day,' to
teach us to live every day as if it were our last. We are not to
pray, Give us bread tomorrow, because we do not know whether we
shall live till to-morrow; but, 'Lord, Give us this day;' it may be
the last day we shall live, and then we shall need no more.
If we pray for bread for a day only, then you who have great
estates have cause to be thankful. You have more than you pray for;
you pray but for bread for one day, and God has given you enough to
suffice all your life. What a bountiful God do you serve! Two things
should make rich men thankful. (1) God gives them more than they
deserve. (2) He gives them more than they pray for.
[4] The fourth thing in the petition is, 'Our bread.'
Why is it called 'Our bread,' when it is not ours, but God's?
(1) We must understand it in a qualified sense; it is our
bread, being gotten by honest industry. There are two sorts of bread
that cannot properly be called our bread: the bread of idleness and
the bread of violence.
The bread of idleness. 'She eateth not the bread of idleness.'
Prov 31: 27, An idle person lives at another body's cost. 'His hands
refuse to labour.' Prov 21: 25. We must not be as the drones, which
eat the honey that other bees have brought into the hive. If we eat
the bread of idleness, it is not our own bread. 'There are some
which walk disorderly, working not at all; such we command that they
work, and eat their own bread.' 2 Thess 3: 11, 12. The apostle gives
this hint, that such as live idly do not eat their own bread.
The bread of violence. We cannot call that 'our bread' which is
taken away from others; that which is gotten by stealth or fraud, or
any manner of extortion, is not 'our bread,' it belongs to another.
He who is a bird of prey, who takes away the bread of the widow and
fatherless, eats the bread which is not his, nor can he pray for a
blessing upon it. Can he pray God to bless that which he has gotten
unjustly?
(2) It is called our bread by virtue of our title to it. There
is a twofold title to bread. [1] A spiritual title. In and by Christ
we have a right to the creature, and may call it 'our bread.' As we
are believers we have the best title to earthly things, we hold all
in capite [in chief]. 'All things are yours;' by what title? 'ye are
Christ's.' I Cor 3: 23. [2] A civil title, which the law confers on
us. To deny men a civil right to their possessions, and make all
common, opens the door to anarchy and confusion.
See the privilege of believers. They have both a spiritual and
a civil right to what they possess. They who can say, 'our Father,'
can say 'our bread.' Wicked men that have a legal right to what they
possess, but not a covenant right; they have it by providence, not
by promise; with God's leave, not with his love. Wicked men are in
God's eye no better than usurpers; all they have, their money and
land, is like cloth taken up at the draper's, which is not paid for;
but the sweet privilege of believers is, that they can say, 'our
bread.' Christ being theirs, all is theirs. Oh, how sweet is every
bit of bread dipped in Christ's blood! How well does that meat
relish, which is a pledge and earnest of more! The meal in the
barrel is an earnest of our angels' food in paradise. It is the
privilege of saints to have a right to earth and heaven.
[5] The fifth and last thing in this petition is, the thing we
pray for, 'daily bread.'
What is meant by bread?
Bread here, by a synecdoche, species pro genere [the particular
for the whole class], is put for all the temporal blessings of this
life, food, fuel, clothing, &c. Quicquid nobis condicut ad bene esse
[Whatever serves for our well-being]. Augustine. Whatever may serve
for necessity or sober delight.
Learn to be contented with the allowance God gives. If we have
bread and a competence of outward things, let us rest satisfied. We
pray but for bread, 'Give us our daily bread;' we do not pray for
superfluities, nor for quails or venison, but for bread which may
support life. Though we have not so much as others, so full a crop,
so rich an estate, yet if we have the staff of bread to keep us from
falling, let us be content. Most people are herein faulty. Though
they pray that God would give them bread, as much as he sees
expedient for them, yet they are not content with his allowance, but
over greedily covet more, and with the daughters of the horse-leech,
cry, 'Give, give.' Prov 30: 15. This is a vice naturally ingrafted
in us. Many pray Agur's first prayer, 'Give me not poverty,' but few
pray his last prayer, 'Give me not riches.' Prov 30: 8. They are not
content with 'daily bread,' but have the dry dropsy of covetousness;
they are still craving for more. 'Who enlargeth his desire as hell,
and is as death, and cannot be satisfied.' Hab 2: 5. There are, says
Agur, four things that say it is not enough, the grave, the barren
womb, the earth, the fire; and I may add a fifth thing, the heart of
a covetous man. Prov 30: 15. Such as are not content with daily
bread, but thirst insatiably after more, will break over the hedge
of God's command; and to get riches will stick at no sin. Cui nihil
satis est, eidem nihil turpe [The man for whom nothing is enough
holds nothing shameful]. Tacitus. Therefore covetousness is called a
radical vice. 'The root of all evil.' I Tim 6: 10. Quid non mortalie
pectora cogis, auri sacra fames? [Oh cursed hunger for gold, to what
dost thou not drive the hearts of men?] The Greek word for
covetousness, pleonexia, signifies an inordinate desire of getting.
Covetousness is not only in getting riches unjustly, but in loving
them inordinately, which is a key that opens the door to all sin. It
causes (1) Theft. Achan's covetous humour made him steal the wedge
of gold which cleft asunder his soul from God. Josh 7: 21. (2) It
causes treason. What made Judas betray Christ? It was the thirty
pieces of silver. Matt 26: 15. (3) It produces murder. It was the
inordinate love of the vineyard that made Ahab conspire Naboth's
death. I Kings 21: 13. (4) It is the root of perjury. Men shall be
covetous; and it follows, truce-breakers. 2 Tim 3: 23. Love of
silver will make men take a fall - oath, and break a just oath. (5)
It is the spring of apostasy. 'Demas has forsaken me, having loved
this present world.' 2 Tim 4: 10. He not only forsook Paul's
company, but his doctrine. Demas afterwards became a priest in an
idol-temple, according to Dorotheus. (6) Covetousness will make men
idolaters. 'Covetousness which is idolatry.' Col 3: 5. Though the
covetous man will not worship graven images in the church, yet he
will worship the graven image in his coin. (7) Covetousness makes
men give themselves to the devil. Pope Sylvester II sold his soul to
the devil for a popedom. Covetous persons forget the prayer, 'Give
us daily bread.' They are not content with that which may satisfy
nature, but are insatiable in their desire. O let us take heed of
this dry dropsy! 'Be content with such things as ye have.' Heb 13:
5. Natura parvo dimittitur [Nature is satisfied with little].
Seneca.
Use. That we may be content with 'daily bread,' that which God
in his providence carves out to us, and not covet or murmur, take
the following considerations:
(1) God can bless a little. 'He shall bless thy bread and thy
water.' Exod. 23: 25. A blessing puts sweetness into the least
morsel of bread, it is like sugar in wine. 'I will bless her
provision.' Psa 132: 15. Daniel, and the three children, ate pulse,
which was a coarse fare, and yet they looked fairer than those who
ate of the king's meat. Dan 1: 12, 15. Whence was this? God infused
a more than ordinary blessing into the pulse. His blessing was
better than the king's venison. A piece of bread with God's love is
angels' food.
(2) God, who gives us our allowance, knows what quantity of
outward things is fittest for us. A smaller provision may be fitter
for some; bread may be better than dainties. Everyone cannot bear a
high condition, any more than a weak brain can bear heavy wine. Has
any one a larger proportion of worldly things? God sees he can
better manage such a condition; he can order his affairs with
discretion, which perhaps another cannot. As he has a large estate,
so he has a large heart to do good, which perhaps another has not.
This should make us content with a shorter bill of fare. God's
wisdom is what we must acquiesce in; he sees what is best for every
one. That which is good for one, may be bad for another.
(3) In being content with daily bread, though less than others
have, much grace is seen. All the graces act their part in a
contented soul. As the holy ointment was made up of several spices,
myrrh, cinnamon, and cassia, so contentment has in it a mixture of
several graces. Exod 30: 23. There is faith. A Christian believes
that God does all for the best. There is love, which thinks no evil,
but takes all God does in good part. There is patience, submitting
cheerfully to what God orders wisely. God is much pleased to see so
many graces at once sweetly exercised, like so many bright stars
shining in a constellation.
(4) To be content with daily bread, though but sparing, keeps
us from many temptations which discontented persons fall into. When
the devil sees a person just of Israel's humour, not content with
manna, but must have quails, he says, Here is good fishing for me.
Satan often tempts discontented ones to murmuring, and to unlawful
means, cozening and defrauding; and he who increases an estate by
indirect means, stuffs his pillow with thorns, so that his head will
lie very uneasy when he comes to die. If you would be freed from the
temptations which discontent exposes to, be content with such things
as ye have, bless God for 'daily bread.'
(5) What a rare and admirable thing is it to be content with
'daily bread,' though it be coarse, and though there be but little
of it! Though a Christian has but a viaticum, a little meal in the
barrel, yet he has that which gives him content. What he has not in
the cupboard, he has in the promise. That bit of bread he has is
with the love of God, and that sauce makes it relish sweet. The
little oil in the cruse is a pledge and earnest of the dainties he
shall have in the kingdom of God, and this makes him content. What a
rare and wonderful thing is this! It is no wonder to be content in
heaven, when we are at the fountain-head, and have all things we can
desire; but to be content when God keeps us to short commons, and we
have scarcely 'daily bread,' is a wonder indeed. When grace is
crowning, it is no wonder to be content; but when grace is
conflicting with straits, to be content is a glorious thing, and
deserves the garland of praise.
(6) To make us content with 'daily bread,' though God straitens
us in our allowance, think seriously of the danger there is in a
high, prosperous condition. Some are not content with 'daily bread,'
but desire to have their barns filled, and heap up silver as dust;
which proves a snare to them. 'They that will be rich fall into a
snare.' I Tim 6: 9. Pride, idleness, wantonness, are three worms
that usually breed of plenty. Prosperity often deafens the ear
against God. 'I spake unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou saidst,
I will not hear.' Jer 22: 21. Soft pleasures harden the heart. In
the body, the more fat, the less blood in the veins, and the less
spirits; so the more outward plenty, often the less piety.
Prosperity has its honey, and also its sting; like the full of the
moon, it makes many lunatic. The pastures of prosperity are rank and
surfeiting. Anxious care is the mains genius, the evil spirit that
haunts the rich man, and will not let him be quiet. When his chests
are full of money, his heart is full of care, either how to manage
or how to increase, or how to secure what he has gotten. Sunshine is
pleasant, but sometimes it scorches. Should it not make us content
with what allowance God gives, if we have daily bread, though not
dainties? Think of the danger of prosperity! The spreading of a full
table may be the spreading of a snare. Many have been sunk to hell
with golden weights. The ferry-man takes in all passengers, that he
may increase his fare, and sometimes to the sinking of his boat.
'They that will be rich fall into many hurtful lusts, which drown
men in perdition.' I Tim 6: 9. The world's golden sands are
quicksands, which should make us take our daily bread, though it be
but coarse, contentedly. What if we have less food, we have less
snare; if less dignity, less danger. As we lack the rich provisions
of the world, so we lack the temptations.
(7) If God keeps us to a spare diet, if he gives us less
temporal, he has made it up in spirituals; he has given us the pearl
of price, and the holy anointing. The pearl of price, the Lord
Jesus, he is the quintessence of all good things. To give us Christ,
is more than if God had given us all the world. He can make more
worlds, but he has no more Christs to bestow; he is such a golden
mine, that the angels cannot dig to the bottom. Eph 3: 8. From
Christ we may have justification, adoption, and coronation. The sea
of God's mercy in giving us Christ, says Luther, should swallow up
all our wants. God has anointed us with the graces, the holy unction
of his Spirit. Grace is a seed of God, a blossom of eternity. The
graces are the impressions of the divine nature, stars to enlighten
us, spices to perfume us, diamonds to enrich us; and if God has
adorned the hidden man of the heart with these sacred jewels, it may
well make us content, though we have but short commons, and that
coarse too. God has given his people better things than corn and
wine; he has given them that which he cannot give in anger, and
which cannot stand with reprobation, and they may say as David, 'The
lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly
heritage.' Psa 16: 6. Didimus was a blind man, but very holy;
Anthony asked him, if he was not troubled for the want of his eyes,
and he told him he was; Anthony replied, 'Why are you troubled? You
want that which flies and birds have, but you have that which angels
have.' So I say to Christians, if God has not given you the purse,
he has given you his Spirit. If you want that which rich men have,
God has given you that which angels have, and are you not content?
(8) If you have but daily bread enough to suffice nature, be
content. Consider it is not having abundance that always makes life
comfortable, it is not a great cage that will make the bird sing. A
competency may breed contentment, when having more may make one less
content. A staff may help the traveller, but a bundle of staves will
be a burden to him. A great estate may be like a long trailing
garment, more burdensome than useful. Many that have great incomes
and revenues have not so much comfort in their lives as some that go
to hard labour.
(9) If you have less daily bread, you will have less account to
give. The riches and honours of this world, like alchemy, make a
great show, and with their glistening, dazzle men's eyes; but they
do not consider the great account they must give to God. 'Give an
account of thy stewardship.' Luke 16: 2. What good hast thou done
with thy estate? Hast thou, as a good steward, traded thy golden
talents for God's glory? Hast thou honoured the Lord with thy
substance? The greater revenues the greater reckonings. Let it quiet
and content us, that if we have but little daily bread, our account
will be less.
(10) You that have but a small competence in outward things,
may be content to consider how much you look for hereafter. God
keeps the best wine till last. What though now you have a small
pittance, and are fed from hand to mouth? You look for an eternal
reward, white robes, sparkling crowns, rivers of pleasure. A son is
content though his father give him but now and then a little money,
as long as he expects his father should settle all his land upon him
at last; so if God give you but little at present, yet you look for
that glory which eye has not seen. The world is but a diversorium, a
great inn. If God give you sufficient to pay for your charges in
your inn, you may be content, you shall have enough when you come to
your own country.
How may we be content, though God cut us short in these
externals; though we have but little daily bread, and coarse?
(1) Think with yourselves that some have been much lower than
you, who have been better than you. Jacob, a holy patriarch, went
over Jordan with his staff, and lived in a mean condition a long
time; he had the clouds for his canopy, and a stone for his pillow.
Moses, who might have been rich, as some historians say, that
Pharaoh's daughter adopted him for her son, because king Pharaoh had
no heir, and so Moses was like to have come to the crown, yet
leaving the honours of the court, in what a low, mean condition did
he live in, when he went to Jethro, his father-in-law! Musculus,
famous for learning and piety, was put to great straits, even to dig
in a town ditch, and had scarcely daily bread, and yet was content!
Nay, Christ, who was heir of all, for our sakes became poor. 2 Cor
8: 9. Let all these examples make us content.
(2) Let us labour to have the interest cleared between God and
our souls. He who can say, 'My God,' has enough to rock his heart
quiet in the lowest condition. What can he want who has El-Shaddai,
the all-sufficient God for his portion? Though the nether springs
fail, yet he has the upper springs; though the bill of fare grow
short, yet an interest in God is a pillar of support to us, and we
may, with David, encourage ourselves in the Lord our God.
The Lord's Prayer
by Thomas Watson
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