2. Nothing is deserved, and therefore certainly everything should be kindly taken. If a man be kept at free cost, and maintained at your expense, you take it very ill if he murmur and dislike his diet. Certainly we are all maintained at free cost, and, therefore, we should with all humble contentation receive whatever God will put into our hands.
3. God knows what proportion is best for us ; he is a God of judg- ment, and knows what is most convenient for us, for he is a wise God. It is the shepherd must choose the pasture, not the sheep. Leave it to God to give you that which is convenient and suitable to your con- dition of life. A shoe may be too big for the foot, and a garment too great for the body, as Saul's armour was too large for little David : 1 Sam. xvii. God will give you that which is convenient, that which is agreeable to you. A garment, when too long, proves a dirty rag ; we may have too much ; and therefore God he carves out our allowance with a wise hand.
4. God doth not only give suitable to your condition, but suitable to your strength, such a portion as you are able to bear. God layeth afiiiction upon his people, and he gives them mercies as they are able to bear ; if they had more, they would have more snares, more temp- tations. You find it hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven : Mat. xix. 24. A man may take a larger draught than he is able to bear ; so God proportioneth every man's condition according to his spiritual strength ; every man is not able to bear a very high prosperous estate : Heb. xiii. 5, ' Let your conversation be without covetousness ; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee ;' then you will live upon the promise. But when men set God a task, and he must maintain them at such a rate, that ends in mischief and distrust : Ps. Ixxviii. 19, * Can God furnish a table in the wilderness.?' &c.
Mat. VI. 11.] THE lord's trayer 165
5. Contentation is one of God's gifts that we ask in this prayer, ' Give us this day our daily bread ;' that is, we ask to be contented with our portion. Contentment and quietness of mind with what we do enjoy, it is a great blessing : Joel ii. 19. See what tine Lord saith there by his prophet : ' I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and yo shall be satisfied therewith.' The bare and simple blessing doth not speak so much of God's love as when we are satisfied, when we have contentment in it ; that is the greater blessing. When our minds are suited to our condition, then the creature is more sweet, more comfort- able. Your happiness lies not in abundance, but in contentment: Luke xii. 15. This doth not make a man happy, that he hath much ; but this, that he is contented ; he hath what God will give him. All spiritual miseries may be referred to these two things : a war between a man and his conscience, and a war between his affections and his condition.
6. There may be as much love in a lesser portion as in a greater. There is the same affection to a small younger child, though he hath not so large an allowance as the elder brother ; yet, saith he, My father loves me as well as him ; not that I have a double portion, but I have as much of my father's love. So a child of God may say, God loves me, though he hath given another more and me less. Be content with what falls to your share, and with your allowance by the wise designa- tion and allotment of God's providence. Thus much for the first point.
A word of a second, viz. : —
Dod. 2. In asking temporal things, Christ hath stinted us to a day, * Give us, arjixepov, this day^ our daily bread.'
God in an extraordinary manner fed his people in the wilderness ; the manna stank if they had kept it another day ; they had it from day to day. What is the reason Christ saith, ' Give us this dmf ?
1. That every day we may pray to God. Therefore it is not, Give us this month, or year, but clay ; because every day God will hear from us : 1 Thes. v. 17, ' Pray without ceasing.' God would not have us too long out of his company, but by a frequent commerce he would have us acquainted and familiar with him. This is required, that you should not let a day pass over your head but God must hear from you, for your patent lasts but for a day ; you have a lease from God of your comforts and mercies, but it is expired unless you renew it again by prayer. How much do they differ from the heart of God's children, that could be contented, like the high ])riest of old, to come to the mercy- seat but once a year ! Now the Lord would have us come every day to the throne of grace.