Study 3: The Lord's Prayer
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
– Matthew 6:13
In the Western World we have become so accustomed to our extraordinary affluence that for many of us this petition has lost its power. That can only be because we have lost a biblical view of life. The food we eat is our only because God upholds our universe and gives us seedtime and harvest. But beyond that, the food we earth nourishes us only because of his blessing.
– Sinclair Ferguson
Westminster Larger Catechism Q. 193. For what do we pray for in the fourth request?
In the fourth request (Give us today our daily bread), we acknowledge that in Adam and by our own sin we have forfeited any right to all of the outward blessings of this life, that we deserve to be completely deprived of them by God and to have their use by us cursed, and that the outward blessings of this life are not in and of themselves capable of sustaining us, nor do we deserve or actually obtain them by our own efforts, but lust after, acquire, and use them in unlawful ways. We pray then for ourselves and others that both they and we may wait daily on God’s providential allowance of the outward blessings of this life and that, according to what his fatherly wisdom decides is best, we may lawfully enjoy his free gift of what is sufficient for us. We also pray that God would continue to bless us with sufficient worldly goods, that they would sustain our needs and be sanctified by us, that we would be satisfied with them, and that God would protect us from anything that undermines our support and sustenance in this world.
Head
What do we pray for in verse 11?
How much bread do we pray for? What’s the significance of this?
What’s the relationship between forgiveness and being forgiven?
Heart
Daily bread seems to indicate we should pray for what we need each day. Do you pray this way, or do you find yourself praying for more than “daily” bread. Why?
Who do you struggle to forgive?
What anger are you holding in your heart?
Hands
Take a few minutes to meditate and pray this prayer:
O Lord, in whom is the source and inexhaustible fountain of all good things, pour out thy blessing upon us, and sanctify to our use the meat and drink which are the gifts of thy kindness towards us, that we, using them soberly and frugally as thou enjoinest, may eat with pure conscience. Grant, also, that we may always both with true heartfelt gratitude acknowledge, and with our lips proclaim thee our Father and the giver of all good, and, while enjoying bodily nourishment, aspire with special longing of heart after the bread of they doctrine, by which our souls may be nourished in the hope of eternal life, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
– John Calvin