3. In craving a blessing before meat.

Thou, O Lord, givest food to all flesh, for thy mercy endures for ever. The eyes of all things wait on thee; but especially thou givest meat to them that fear thee, being ever mindful of thy covenant. Psa. exxxvi..25; cxlv. 15; cxi. 5. Ps 136:25

Thou art our life, and the length of our days, the God that hath fed us all our life long unto this day. Thou givest us all things richly to enjoy, though we serve thee but poorly. Thou hast not only given us every green herb, and the fruit of the trees, to be to us for meat, but every moving thing that liveth, even as the green herb. Deut 30:20. Gen 48:15. 1 Tim 6:17. Gen 1:29Gen 9:3

And blessed be God that now under the gospel we are taught to call nothing common or unclean, and that it is not that which goes into the man that defileth the man, but that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused; for God hath created it to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. Acts 10:15. Matt 15:11.1 Tim 4:3, 4.

We acknowledge we are not worthy of the least crumbs that falls from the table of thy providence. Thou mightest justly take away from us the stay of bread, and the stay of water, and make us to eat our bread by weight, and to drink our water by measure, and with astonishment; because when we have been fed to the full, we have forgotten God our Maker. But let our sins be pardoned, we pray thee, that our table may not become a snare before us, nor that be made a trap which should have been for our welfare. Matt 15:27. Isa 3:1. Ezek 4:16. Deut 32:15. Ps 69:22.

We know that everything is sanctified by the word of God and prayer; and that man lives not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, and therefore, according to our Master’s example, we look up to heaven, and pray for a blessing upon our food; abundantly bless our provision. 1 Tim 4:5. Matt 4:4; Matt 14:19. Ps 132:15.

Lord, grant that we may not feed ourselves without fear, that we may not make a god of our belly, that our hearts may never be overcharged with surfeiting or drunkenness, but that whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we may do all to the glory of God. Jude 1:12Phil 3:19. Luke 21:34. 1 Cor 10:31.

‹ In our evening prayers. · In returning thanks after our meat. ›

Pray now: a guided prayer in six parts, with the next heads each day.

Henry’s text is in the public domain. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, No. 265 Chestnut Street. Undated, about 1840 to 1860. The preface is dated Chester, March 25, 1710. From the Internet Archive scan. The KJV text is in the public domain.