Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
This is Solomon's prayer asking God for only food that is suitable. Convenient food means appropriate food suited to a person's needs, nature, and life, asking for neither poverty nor riches, and it does not mean an impoverished diet. The petition expresses the meaning of the prayer for daily bread, seeking only what is needed for life because food is essential to life. Seeking only what is needed guards against two dangers: being full leads to denying God and asking who is the Lord, while being poor leads to stealing and taking God's name in vain.
God provides food suited to each creature's needs, as shown when an infant receives its mother's milk for proper strength and natural growth. The suitable food prayed for is plain, coarse, wholesome, nourishing food, free from grease and rich preparation and congenial to the body, chosen for health rather than to gratify taste or indulge appetite. The prayer must be acted out by taking special care of the health God has given, denying unhealthy appetite, refusing rich food, and obtaining and eating plain food. Rich food destroys bodily health, ruins the constitution, injures the mind, and wastes means, and indulging appetite makes people sickly.
Eating suitable food allows sincere asking for God's blessing at the table and eating to God's glory, and God graciously blesses it to give strength and benefit the body. The prayer calls for laying aside pride and idols and refusing to make a god of the belly, putting means saved from appetite into God's work and treasury, which lays up a heavenly reward. Few eat this way, and those who will not deny appetite will experience want even if finally saved.
Contentment with sufficient food and clothing gives moral power to overcome temptation and keeps heart and hands clean from covetousness and dishonesty, supporting honesty in daily business. Keeping honesty as the ruling principle requires guarding against coveting what belongs to others, and overcoming in little things gives strength to withstand greater temptations. In spiritual application, God moves ministers of varied capabilities and gifts under the Holy Spirit to feed His heritage with suitable food, since no one worker alone can mold souls or supply all that is needed, but one is strong where another is weak and brings out truths another overlooked, so that together they meet each soul's special case and bring the work to fullness.
This is Solomon's prayer asking God for only food that is suitable. Convenient food means appropriate food suited to a person's needs, nature, and life, asking for neither poverty nor riches, and it does not mean an impoverished diet. The petition expresses the meaning of the prayer for daily bread, seeking only what is needed for life because food is essential to life. Seeking only what is needed guards against two dangers: being full leads to denying God and asking who is the Lord, while being poor leads to stealing and taking God's name in vain.
God provides food suited to each creature's needs, as shown when an infant receives its mother's milk for proper strength and natural growth. The suitable food prayed for is plain, coarse, wholesome, nourishing food, free from grease and rich preparation and congenial to the body, chosen for health rather than to gratify taste or indulge appetite. The prayer must be acted out by taking special care of the health God has given, denying unhealthy appetite, refusing rich food, and obtaining and eating plain food. Rich food destroys bodily health, ruins the constitution, injures the mind, and wastes means, and indulging appetite makes people sickly.
Eating suitable food allows sincere asking for God's blessing at the table and eating to God's glory, and God graciously blesses it to give strength and benefit the body. The prayer calls for laying aside pride and idols and refusing to make a god of the belly, putting means saved from appetite into God's work and treasury, which lays up a heavenly reward. Few eat this way, and those who will not deny appetite will experience want even if finally saved.
Contentment with sufficient food and clothing gives moral power to overcome temptation and keeps heart and hands clean from covetousness and dishonesty, supporting honesty in daily business. Keeping honesty as the ruling principle requires guarding against coveting what belongs to others, and overcoming in little things gives strength to withstand greater temptations. In spiritual application, God moves ministers of varied capabilities and gifts under the Holy Spirit to feed His heritage with suitable food, since no one worker alone can mold souls or supply all that is needed, but one is strong where another is weak and brings out truths another overlooked, so that together they meet each soul's special case and bring the work to fullness.