|
The Fourth Petition In the fourth request of the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for all the things we need to sustain our earthly existence. This covers a wide area. We could easily come up with a long list of blessings. Luther comments in the Large Catechism: “What we need in order to live is not only food, shelter, and other necessities for the body, but also peace and harmony between us and those among whom we live and move in our daily business, trade, or association of any kind—in short, we need everything that pertains to the management not only of our domestic but also of our community or civic affairs.” Not only does God give us good things, but He also protects us from every evil. He protects us from fire, storm, disease, war, famine, and so forth. We should remember this and constantly turn to God in prayer. We are to rely on the ultimate Source of all good things, and not turn aside to some other source which cannot truly help us. As Luther reminds us, God gives good things also to wicked men, “yet He wishes us to pray for these blessings, so that we may recognize that they come to us from His hand and, when we receive them, feel His fatherly goodness toward us.” God answers our prayers and gives us the things we need through agents and instruments. For example, in protecting us from fire God has blessed us through the invention of the pump, smoke detectors, and fire resistant materials. He also blesses us through the government, which establishes building codes and enforces them. The tendency we have is to forget that God is behind the inventors and the government. He gave the inventors their intelligence and caused them to be born in the right place and at the right time. He is also the One who has established governments. Good government is vital for our earthly well-being. Without it our daily bread can be taken from us or threatened. Therefore, we ought to pray for those in authority, praying that they would govern well and do what is right rather than what is popular. In this petition, we pray not only for earthly blessings but that we would recognize what God is doing and give thanks for His gifts. There are many things that can hinder our enjoying God’s blessings. Things like worry, an unstable economy, crime, and war. So we pray that God would defeat the schemes of all those who would harm us. And we pray that He would strengthen us in faith so we would overcome worry and confidently trust Him to care for us. This petition is a reminder to us that God is concerned about the whole person, not just our souls. Yes, God’s greatest gifts are Jesus, our Savior, and eternal life, but this does not mean that earthly blessings are worthless. They too are good gifts from God. We should look at everything that is included in “our daily bread” as a little mercy from God. A cup of cold water on a hot day, a day when we can sleep late, and countless other blessings are gifts that God gives “out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.” |
