Give us this day our daily bread.
This is the only sentence in the Lord's prayer where any material blessing is requested and THEN it is confined to the simple need of food. In Proverbs 30, we read about a man who understood this kind of supplication long before Jesus instructed us to pray in this manner. His name was Agur.
He said to God, "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread." It's funny, but I don't hear that kind of praying today. The majority of prayers is asking for stuff. James talked about this type of prayer:
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Agur, who thought himself to have little wisdom, was indeed much wiser than those who spout prayers of greed today, for he added to his prayer, "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."
truly we should only pray for today's provision, and not for more than we need. Then each mornings sunrise will bring a renewed trust in the Lord.
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