Heidelberg Catechism

Question 125. Which is the fourth petition?

Answer: “Give us this day our daily bread”; that is, be pleased to provide us with all things necessary for the body, (a) that we may thereby acknowledge thee to be the only fountain of all good, (b) and that neither our care nor industry, nor even thy gifts, can profit us without thy blessing; (c) and therefore that we may withdraw our trust from all creatures, and place it alone in thee. (d)

(a) Ps.104:27 These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. Ps.104:28 That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Ps.145:15 The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Ps.145:16 Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. Matt.6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Matt.6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? (b) James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Acts 14:17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Acts 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (c) 1 Cor.15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Deut.8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Ps.37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Ps.37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Ps.37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. Ps.37:16 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. Ps.127:1 <<A Song of degrees for Solomon.>> Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Ps.127:2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. (d) Ps.55:23 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee. Ps.62:11 God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. Ps.146:3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. Jer.17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. Jer.17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.