WSC Q104: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Q. 104 What do we pray for in the fourth petition? A. In the fourth petition, (which is, Give us this day our daily bread,) we pray, that of God's free gift we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and enjoy His blessing with them. You will notice a change that comes with the fourth petition from the use of the word "Your" to the use of the word "our." Here we begin to pray for our own needs. This shows that prayer for the things due to God comes first, for our needs, second. It is the same emphasis that we find in the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments concern our duty to God and the last six our duty to each other. But though it comes second, we are to pray for our needs.