For our Scripture reading tonight, I'd like to read from two places. First, Proverbs 30. The first nine verses of Proverbs 30. And then also turning over to Matthew 6, reading a few verses from there. Beginning with Proverbs 30, verse 1, as we give our attention to the reading of the Word of God. The saints of Augur, son of Jacob, an oracle. This man declared to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Uchol, I am the most ignorant of men. I do not have a man's understanding. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of His hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name and the name of His Son? Tell me if you know. Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar. Two things I ask of You, O Lord, do not refuse me before I die. Keep falsehood and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown You and say, Who is the Lord? Or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my God. And then turning over to Matthew 6. Matthew 6, reading together verses 25 through the end of the chapter. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are they not much more valuable? Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow? They do not labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. And then if you would turn in the back of the Psalter hymnal to Lord's Day 50. Lord's Day 50 as we continue our study of the Lord's Prayer. Tonight with the fourth petition. Page 62 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. Question and answer 125. Lord's Day 50, page 62, as we confess what we believe together. Question 125 asks us, what does the fourth request mean? Give us this day our daily bread means, do take care of all our physical needs so that we come to know that you are the only source of everything good and that neither our work and worry, nor your gifts, can do us any good without your blessing. And so help us to give up our trust in creatures and to put trust in you alone. Beloved of the Lord, what a beautiful thing it is that praying people, Christians who are brought into communion with their Heavenly Father through the power of the Holy Spirit that they are commanded by Christ to ask God for what we need. To be able to ask the great Creator to supply us with that which we need is truly a blessing because only the Creator can really give of His creation with any benefit. For who else can grant the petition give us this day our daily bread? Of course, this is the first of the three petitions that now deal with the believer, with ourselves. And you recall, I trust, that with the very first three petitions of the prayer which focus on God, we have asked that His name be honored and that it be honored by us. That His kingdom come and that it come through us. And that His will be done and that it be done in us. We have asked that He make us as His people active participants in His kingship and in His kingdom. And now Jesus teaches us to pray for daily bread so that daily life may continue. And through that physical life, that we might be active. That we might be used by the Holy Spirit in such a way that indeed the Father's name would be honored by us. That His kingdom would come in part through us. That His will would be done by us. God's people are called to pray for the preservation of life until Jesus comes again because all of life, even physical life, is sacred to God. We need to understand that with the Christian life, not one part of that life can be considered secular. And therefore, we come before our God and we seek His providing hand to preserve this physical life which He has given. And so I preach to you the believer's prayer for the open hand of the giver. This prayer is, first of all, a confession of dependence upon the giver. Secondly, it is a confession of uselessness without the giver. And finally, it is a confession of faith in the giver. As children, we ask our Heavenly Father to give us this day our daily bread. Now, the very first word, give, shows dependence. But the very fact that you have to ask another to give you something, it shows that you don't already have whatever it is you're asking for, and they do. So you depend upon them giving you whatever it is you need. Christians, as children of the Heavenly Father, confess their dependence upon the Giver. And to pray this petition is to admit that only God can give us what we truly need. The Catechism says this beautifully, do take care of all our physical needs so that we come to know that You are the only source of everything good. And once again, the older version says, be pleased to provide for all our bodily need that we may thereby acknowledge Thee to be the only fountain of all good. Jesus teaches us in Matthew 7, verse 30, that it is God who clothes the grass of the field and it is God who provides for His people. And in this confession of dependence, the believer states his need for bread. Now we need to understand, boys and girls especially, that this isn't just talking about that loaf of bread that we use to make peanut butter sandwiches. The catechism rightly states it as all our physical need. Now someone has very wisely pointed out that the loaf of bread on our table did not get there all by itself. It took a farmer to raise the wheat. It took a miller to grind the grain. It took a baker to bake the bread. It took a grocer to sell it. And since I had a bread delivery man in my former congregation, he reminded me that I missed a step. It takes the bread delivery man to deliver it to the grocery store so that the grocer can sell it. And of course, we had to earn the money to buy it. But all of this, you see, goes into God's provision for our bread. Now, this is a very simple illustration, but I trust you see that it points out that it's not simply bread that we pray for, but all our physical or bodily needs. We pray for necessary food, clothing, work, and health, and whatever else is necessary for the preservation of this earthly life. But again, the key here is that which is necessary. We depend upon God totally for the preservation of life, physical as well as spiritual. Yet isn't it true that with all of our modern technology, this is sometimes hard to fathom? You see, we can go to Vons or we can go to Ralph's or we can go to Food for Less or any number of large grocery stores and the aisles are stocked from floor to ceiling, stocked full with food. And as one stands in the middle of all that food, the connection between God and our daily bread might seem a little remote, a little bit weak. We might be tempted to say, well, we depend upon electricity and we depend upon refrigeration and we depend upon natural gas and we depend upon canning techniques to preserve the food and to keep it good until we need it. But the food is there in abundance. It's right there in the store. It doesn't need to be provided. And besides, God has bigger things to deal with than worrying about what I'm going to eat for lunch. But beloved, providence is God's business. He is the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of life. And all of man's technology means nothing apart from the hand of God. And therefore, praying for daily bread includes praying for technology and praying for industry and for affordable prices and for health to enjoy the goods God provides. All of life is dependent upon the giver of life. Psalm 104 is a reflection of this. A number of verses point that out. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle and vegetation for the labor of man so that he may bring forth good from the earth, food which sustains man's heart. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God. O Lord, how many are Thy works! In wisdom Thou hast made them all. The earth is full of Thy possessions. They all wait for Thee to give them their food in due season. Thou dost give them, they gather it up. Thou dost open Thy hand, they are satisfied with good. All of life congregation depends upon the open hand of the giver. Now when we pray, give, give us this day. That's not a demand. It's a humble plea. Lord, be pleased of your infinite mercy to sustain me yet this one day. However, the truth is, in our day, we expect to be fed, don't we? Today, at least, according to our government leaders, as we were reminded in the debates for the recent presidential campaign, according to our government leaders, every human being has a right to plenty of food. Every human being, every child has a right to a college education and a modest income. Today, we expect the government to take care of us. We expect our employers to provide a certain level of security for us. Now, it's true that the Bible commands employers to provide to pay fair wages as well as it commands employees to put in that honest day of work. But we expect these things, don't we? We demand these things. Why? Because our society has thrown God out. The attitude is, what good can God do if I don't get that raise? But people of God, give us this day our daily bread as a prayer to live out of the Father's hand. And the truth is, man, including you and me as believers, lives off of given food. We live off of the food, the bread of charity given by God. And the rich man as well as the poor man must learn to lift up hands to the Father and say, give. because God is the only source of everything good. He is the only fountain, as the older catechism says. Isn't that beautiful? What a beautiful picture. A fountain just pouring forth that fresh, abundant water. But therefore, prayer is still necessary even though our table is well spread. And even though our pantry is well stocked. And even though our freezer is full. Prayer is still necessary. We need to understand, beloved, that this is not, first of all, a prayer for that which we don't have. But first of all, it is a prayer, it is a confession of God as the only fountain, as the only source. And therefore, every prayer before a meal is a confession or an acknowledgement of this. Prayer before and after meals, consecrates, it sets apart as holy even the simplest of meals and it is a confession that God is the great host of. He is the Father at the head of our table. The believer's confession of dependence is that all that we eat and drink is not a result of our own work and our own effort, but it is a result of God's goodness and God's grace. And only when we can confess this by the power of the Holy Spirit can we do as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10.31 and that is to eat and drink and do all things to the glory of God. And then, beloved, God's providential goodness and grace is seen as more marvelous when we consider the fact that the Lord gives bread into hands that refuse to work for Him and into mouths that refuse to confess and praise Him. Yet other than a little temporary physical satisfaction, these things give no benefit to the unbeliever. And therefore, the believer's request for daily bread it is also a confession of uselessness without the giver. In this day of instant gratification and excess, this is also hard to comprehend. But as the Catechism says, that neither our work and worry nor your gifts can do us any good without your blessing. Without God's blessing. As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, all is vanity, all is meaningless, Everything is a chasing after the wind. Without God's blessing, all that we do or all that we accomplish is under a curse. And all that God does give food or clothing or success apart from faith in Jesus Christ will become a curse against man. Because man did not see these things as a gift from God. Congregation, without God's blessing, bread will not benefit us for eternity. Yes, with God's blessing, Our daily bread, our physical sustenance, will benefit us for eternity. The prophet Haggai makes it clear that without God's blessing, there is no true satisfaction, no true spiritual satisfaction. He says, Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways, and listen to what he says here. You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but do not have enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes. Like putting our change in our pocket. Only to find it missing because there's a hole in our pocket. And this is true for rich or poor alike, that apart from God's blessing, all is meaningless. Apart from God's blessing, man's focus is too narrow. He considers this life alone, Eternity never enters his mind. But with the blessing of God, the Christian's focus is on eternity. And he is satisfied with God's provision today because by the grace of God, he knows that that very provision is a down payment, so to speak, of God's provision for eternity. And that blessing, congregation, comes only through Christ Jesus. You see, we pray, give us this day our daily bread. We claim a portion as ours. But if everything belongs to God and He is the only source of all good, how can we that as believers do that? How can we claim a portion as our own? Only in Christ. Mankind lost all claim to anything and everything in Adam, but in Christ, all has been restored to His people. Jesus Christ suffered for our bread. He was parched with thirst for our water in order to give us rights as children. Paul says it beautifully in 1 Corinthians 3, all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. All things belong to the Lord. But remember, a father always provides for his children. God's gift of bread is also a gift of grace. In Jesus Christ, we do not come as beggars who request alms or as strangers seeking some favor. We come as children. We come as those who are a part of the family of God. We come as those who belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, in life and in death. Even in our families, our children have some rights. I don't want to say they have too many. I'm a parent myself. but our children have some rights. Boys and girls, you can expect that when you come to the dinner table, there will be a place for you with a portion of food for you. You can expect clothes and shelter and protection from your parents. This doesn't mean that you can expect your favorite food at every meal. And it doesn't mean that you can expect the most stylish and the most expensive of clothing. That's not what we're talking about at all. But God expects parents to provide for their children and He does no less for His. In baptism, God's children receive that sign and seal that He will provide for His covenant children. Only with the blessing of God upon our care and labor and upon His gifts will the child of God be nourished toward eternity. Only with His blessing will His children be drawn closer to Him. Because by His grace, they will recognize and confess their complete dependence upon Him and their uselessness apart from Him. Moses said, Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And only with God's blessing then, beloved, will the believer's request for the open hand of the giver be a confession of faith in the giver. The catechism says it this way, And so help us to give up our trust in creatures and to put trust in You alone. We would all agree, I trust, that there are times when we put more trust in the creature than in the Creator. We study the Farmer's Almanac to find out what kind of growing year it will be. We anticipate prosperity from the sun and from the rain. We trust the stock market to give us a return on our investment that we're comfortable with. We trust our government to negotiate with foreign countries for export and import so that we'll have a job to go to tomorrow. Over the past couple of years, we've seen that the world, in a sense, puts its fate in the hands of El Nino and La Nina and Mother Nature. But the truth is, only Father God, the Creator of heaven and earth, never disappoints. He may test us, but He never disappoints. If the widow in Elisha's day had not believed Elisha and would have thought to herself, what a crazy idea to gather all of those jars into my home when I don't have anything to put in them. Just a little bit of oil. If she would have thought that way, she would have perished with her children. But through her faith, God filled those empty jars. By faith, she was saved. But the Lord warns us, beloved, against thinking that we live from steady incomes or from safe pensions or from nice bank accounts or filled barns. We only live from God's hand. These other things may indeed be the things that He uses, but they are also in His hand. We are called to trust God for our daily bread today. First of all, we need bread every day. This is to be our daily prayer. We depend upon sustenance daily. We cannot eat ahead for a few days or a few weeks. And today's hunger cannot and will not be satisfied by yesterday's bread. That's history. That's gone. The need for bread is new every morning and we are called to trust that God will provide us what we need on a daily basis. But then notice that also, Jesus teaches us to pray only for what we need today. Not for what we need next year, next month, next week, not even tomorrow. Believers must pray for their needs one day at a time. But this doesn't mean, beloved, that we throw away all foresight and work and thriftiness. God calls us to work daily and He allows us to plan and He provides our daily bread in this way. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians, if a man will not work, let him not eat. And whoever thinks that he doesn't have to work is commanded in Proverbs to consider the tiny ant who works hard in the summertime in order to eat in the wintertime. We must work. We must plan. That's stewardship. But we must not trust in our working and in our planning, but we are to trust only in God's blessing. When Jesus says in Matthew 6, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear, do not worry about tomorrow, He's talking about an unbelieving worry. He's talking about an unbelieving anxiety where God is completely out of the picture. But a prudent care for tomorrow is good. However, don't get caught up in worrying about tomorrow's needs. That doesn't mean we waste. It doesn't mean we squander. We are called to be good stewards. But we do not have to worry about tomorrow's needs. Even as Jesus said in verse 34 of Matthew 6, Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. In other words, don't worry today about the tomorrow you may never see. The rich farmer found that out much to his eternal dismay. He built bigger barns that were filled to the full. He kicked his feet up and with beverage in hand, he reflected on how good he would have it for many years to come. But the Lord said, you fool, this night your soul will be required of you. When the believer gazes into the open hand of God, his desire is to be only for his daily bread today. Augur in Proverbs 30 tells us why. Verses 8 and 9. Keep falsehood and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, who is the Lord? Or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my God. Having too much can lead to pride and a sense of independence from God and having too little can lead to discontent and envy and a temptation to steal. The Catechism talks about this as well in Lord's Day 10 when it talks about providence that the believer is to be patient in adversity. Notice the contrast. patient in adversity, but also thankful in prosperity. This petition, Give us this day our daily bread, calls for contentment and moderation. That's what the Lord taught the Israelites in the wilderness. For 40 years, one day at a time, they were to trust Him to provide what they needed. And beloved, we are taught to pray for bread. Not luxury. Not extravagance. And we are to pray for what we need today, not for a 15% return on our investment tomorrow or for the ability to retire at 62. This doesn't mean that God only promises and will only give enough for bare survival. Each and every one of us can testify to the fact that often He gives in abundance much more than we could ever think or ask for. But this is a prayer not to become entangled in the things of this world. This is a prayer not to seek material things, but also not to seek security in material things. Jesus commands His people to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and then to have faith that all these things shall be added unto you. Beloved, through Jesus Christ, all of God's good gifts to His people are blessed, And he will continue to provide for his people from his hand until that greatest blessing, the day of Christ's return. But on that day, the hands that refused to work for the Lord and the mouths that refused to confess and praise the Lord, yet in the flesh selfishly squandered the Lord's physical gifts will suffer the curse of God's wrath for eternity. For those who by the grace of God and the strength of His Spirit waited upon the Lord day by day, they will be of good cheer. Boys and girls, all of the blessings that we enjoy, the food on our table, the clothes on our back, point to something much greater. All that God gives to us, be it little or be it much, points to His providing hand for all eternity. It points to that heavenly banquet feast that all of God's children will enjoy forever and ever being fully satisfied. God's children can pray, give us this day our daily bread with the confidence that for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, He will open His hand and give. He will renew the strength of those who wait upon Him and in that confidence then we can endure this life with contentment and satisfaction. Because although we do not know what tomorrow holds, we know who holds tomorrow in the palm of His hand. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we confess that Your provision is so wonderful. You give in such abundance. we recognize that in our physical life and then by your grace our eyes are lifted to our Savior Jesus Christ and you have given to us abundantly in him for eternity oh Lord may we indeed every day through prayer confess our dependence upon you for all that we stand in need of for body and soul we pray that you will continue to give us what we need not what we want but what we need. And we pray too that You would keep us on our knees in prayer before You, recognizing You as the only fountain of all good. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake and in His name, Amen.