objects, and to guard them carefully when we pray. There are, on the other hand, times when we should raise them, after the example of Christ. For the considering and relieving of the poor (John vi. 5), in giving thanks (Mark vi. 41), in praying (John xvii. 1), in giving instruction (Luke vi. 20), in seeking the glory of God in all our actions (John xi. 41).
4. Learn to ask God’s blessing on your food.
As Christ gave thanks, and looking up to Heaven blessed the loaves and fishes.
We have the same lesson in Deut. viii. 10, “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God.” And we have the example of the Israelites who would not eat of the victims till Samuel had blessed them.
5. Learn care for the poor.
Christ gave the loaves and fishes to His disciples to distribute among the multitude, and so He gives the rich their abundance, not for them to consume it themselves, but that they may “distribute and give to the poor.”
6. Learn to see God’s providence in the support of all men, and especially of His own servants.
Thus did God provide manna for the Israelites in the wilderness (Exod. xvi. 12), bread and meat for Elijah during the famine (1 Kings xvii. 4), food for Daniel in the lions’ den (Bel and Dragon, 83).
