A Study of the Lord's Prayer by R. A. UNDERWOOD

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 19, 1912

A Study of the Lord's Prayer

By R. A. UNDERWOOD

Prayer—No. 5

A Study of the Lord's Prayer

R. A. UNDERWOOD

“Give us this day our daily bread.” This prayer includes every blessing in God’s power to bestow. It expresses abiding faith in God. It teaches us to live in the present and to be content to accept the responsibilities of to-day, leaving the problems and duties of the morrow for that hour.

It is a device of Satan to lead people to live, in their imaginations, either in the past or in the future. It matters but little which, so long as the mind is turned away from present duty. One class is led to believe that had they lived in the remote past they would have been great reformers, or at least heroes in the defense of the right. The Jews that rejected Christ and were ready to put him to death were of this class. They said, “If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.” Matt. 23: 30. Again they exclaimed, “We are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.” John 9: 28, 29.

No better commendation of life’s work can be given than that of the psalmist, which says, “David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers.”

If Satan can not lead one to live upon the past, he tries to have him forget present duty and to become overanxious about the future. A lady once came to me in great distress of mind. When she had told me her anxiety, it was seen that the only perplexity she had was the fear that she would not be able to endure the test in the time of trouble. I tried to show her that she could live only one day at a time; that she had no promise of to-morrow; that to-day brought the only responsibility she would ever have to bear; and that the promise, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be,” was a promise for her to believe. Some are trying to go through the time of trouble now, instead of improving present opportunities and blessings. All the hosts of darkness can not harm one of God’s sealed servants in the day of trouble. Dan. 12: 1.

The adversary is pleased to have us spend our time worrying about the future, rather than being anxious about our present relations to God and our fellow men. “Set thine house in order” to-day, is God’s message to us. The most trouble people have in this world is that which never comes at all. It is a wicked thing to borrow trouble concerning some crisis or calamity of the future.

An Object-Lesson

About twenty years ago there was a grist-mill ten miles from my home in Ohio, in which there was posted this sign, “To-day, we sell feed cheap for cash.” A neighbor had accompanied me to the mill to get some feed. Upon reading the sign he said, “I will not buy feed to-day; to-morrow I will come and get trusted.” He returned the next day to buy feed on credit, but to his confusion was asked to read the sign, “To-day we sell feed cheap for cash; to-morrow we trust.” The proprietor said, “To-day we sell feed for cash, to-morrow never comes in this mill.” So eternity is but one eternal now.

O, that men might learn that life’s golden moment is the present now, in which are offered our greatest opportunities. This is the only time we ever have to trust God for power and wisdom to meet life’s duties. Of Christ it is said, “He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him” (margin, “He rolled himself on the Lord”). Ps. 22: 8. This expresses the simplicity of the faith of Jesus. Rev. 14: 12. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord [roll yourself upon God] forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” Isa. 26: 3, 4.

Our Daily Bread

The spiritual as well as physical need of man is included in Christ, who said, “I am that bread of life.” David could say, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.” Ps. 68: 19. These benefits may come through affliction. “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4: 19. The invalid’s need requires food adapted to his conditions, and it may be very different from the food a person in normal health requires.

The Great Physician gives bread according to the necessity of the patient, although at times it is unpleasant to take. The following is a prescription which carries with it a blessed experience: “And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” Isa. 30: 20, 21. Trials and obstacles, if met with fortitude and cheerfulness, are a means of developing true greatness. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings.”

There are three prominent reasons why trials are permitted to come to us in the present life:—

We may personally need correction.
Trial is a test of faith and strength—ens character.
Through trials we may be better equipped for service.

There are so many called to pass through trials who need human sympathy and encouragement. It is a fact that we can not bring to others what we have not gained by experience or do not possess. This great truth is expressed by Paul, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. . . . And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.” 2 Cor. 1: 3-6.

No one is able to touch heart with heart in experience, and impart courage and inspiring faith to the tempted soul in deepest trial, as is the person who has proved the promises of God, with victory in trial. No one knows the conflict and struggles of the soul, except one who has passed through a similar experience. Therefore, we are often called to bring to the tempted comfort and help that we have received under like trials. Whatever the purpose of God in bringing us through the bitter waters of affliction, be it for our sake or for the sake of others, let us kiss the hand that bears the cup to our lips.

Afflictions are an evidence of our sonship. “Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. . . . Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Heb. 12: 5-11. David could say, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.” Therefore the chastened child will “in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thess. 5: 18.

Mesopotamia, Ohio.