using means for the avoidance of evil and securing of good, or depending
entirely upon miraculous interference in answer to the prayer of faith
for all need without reference to use of means.

Does the prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," mean that we are to
do nothing to secure our bread, lest we show no faith in God, and simply
wait in idleness for God to repeat the miracle of sending it by a
raven? or, does it mean that with thankful hearts to God for the ability
he has given us to work, that we go forth diligently fulfilling our task
in the use of all appropriate means to secure that which his loving
bounty has made possible for us in the fruitful seasons of the earth,
and return with devout recognition that He is the Creator, Upholder and
Giver of all, bringing our sheaves with us. When seed-time and harvest
fail and death is on the land, when corn fails in Egypt and there is no
bread, when _we have obeyed him_ and sought to toil with our hands and
no man has given unto us, then we will expect his interposition and will
have faith that he who has fed us by use of means, will supply us
without means, and that He alone is the living God.

It is noticeable that the prophet Elisha, whose prayers God heard in the
multiplication of the twenty loaves during the dearth at Gilgal, was
made Elijah's successor when following his twelve yoke of oxen at the
plough in the field, diligently using means to obtain bread, and
undoubtedly communing with God all the while and recognizing the
evidences of his love and power in every upturned daisy as he ploughed
the sod, and in every seed that he dropped into the fertile earth, and
thought it grand to be a fellow worker with God in the husbandry of the
earth and not one to be fed in idleness, neglecting the toil appointed
to man, and losing the blessing that is promised in the word of God, in
the discipline and the knowledge of God in the operations of His laws,