Prayer before meals and advice.

[Osage Bluestem]

Are we supposed to pray before meals or is this just a traditional thing?

We've been praying before meals at our house when we sit down to eat together, but when we eat individually or in the living room its usually just grab and go.

I've noticed that whenever I eat with another member of the Church anywhere they always stop to pray before meals and when I am with others or alone I rarely think to do this. I pray often throughout the day, but just never really prayed before my meals very much. I also don't stop, bow my head, fold my hands, close my eyes, and pray like that very often. I usually just talk to God throughout the day. I begin my prayers addressing either the Father or Jesus and end by saying "in Jesus name I pray".

 

[Mushroom]

I guess we do it because the Lord gave thanks before the feeding of the multitudes, Paul did so before eating on the ship just before it broke apart, etc., and we're told to give thanks for all things.

 

[Michael]

It is tradition, but it is a Godly one. Always a good idea to give thanks for all things (Eph 5:20). Specifically regarding food though...

Mat 15:36
John 6:23
1Tim 4:3-4

(just a few examples)

 

[Contra_Mundum]

Asking God to bless the food to our nourishment is a statement of Faith.

It is also a rejection of the religion of Naturalism, which states that things just happen by some pre-ordered chain of causation and physical laws that are ultimately relative.

If we believe in Providential control, and that "in Him (Christ) all things hold together," then we should be glad for this opportunity and habit, taken at our most regular (and sometimes, due to privation, irregular) sustaining events.

 

[Nebrexan]

Our family does. This is the scripture I base it on:

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:4-5, ESV)

We also pray at restaurants, which at first was a little uncomfortable for me. But over the years other diners have come up to us saying they appreciated our praying.

 

[VictorBravo]

A prayer of thanksgiving after eating is also a fine thing. I think both are appropriate to keep our focus.

 

[Jack K]

I'd say it's a godly practice (though not an absolute requirement), and one with biblical support, to thank God for supplying our food when the mealtime context makes a prayer appropriate. It keeps the heart mindful of God's provision. So when my family eats together at home, we "bless the Lord" before the meal.

But to "bless the food" is silly. Oh, I suppose we could pray that God will make it nourishing. But the idea that "unblessed" food might not nourish us borders on superstition. So we bless the Lord, but never the food.

 

[Jack K]

But to "bless the food" is silly.

I agree, if by that you mean that men think they are able to bless the food. But we should ask God to bless it, and I don't think that's silly at all.

Matthew 14:19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

Mark 6:41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.

Mark 8:6-7 And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people.
7And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them.

1 Timothy 4:3-5 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Luke 9:16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.

Luke 24:30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.​

Yeah, I realize Jesus actually blessed the food. But I think the 1 Timothy passage, "received with thanksgiving," gets at the heart of what I was trying to say. Thanks for mentioning it.

There are those who talk as if their act of saying a blessing makes the food proper to eat. That's superstition. Then there are those who are truly thankful to God. By receiving such food as a gift of God it becomes sanctified. It touches somehow the seed-bearing plants in the garden, the manna in the wilderness, and the bread and wine of the Last Supper. It is in this sense, I would suggest, that Jesus blessed the loaves and fishes. That meal was in touch with God's provision through the ages. Ours can be too, if we eat with thanksgiving.

 

[Nebrexan]

... But to "bless the food" is silly. Oh, I suppose we could pray that God will make it nourishing. ...

"Lord, we declare our victory over the demons of fat, calories, and cholesterol, bind them in Your Name, and command them to not enter our bodies!"

 

[Kevin]

It is a tradition.

But that is not a bad thing. Since it is ancient, widespread, and well approved, and is derived from many scriptural examples we can & should do it.

But it is Not a command. So to neglect it is not a sin. To neglect it (out of fear of men, or other reasons) can be the result of sin, but to create a religious duty where God does not, is also a danger.

 

[glorifyinggodinwv]

I have found Calvin's thoughts on this matter to be beneficial:

"But although it has been said above, (sec. 7, 27, &c.), that we ought always to raise our minds upwards towards God, and pray without ceasing, yet such is our weakness, which requires to be supported, such our torpor, which requires to be stimulated, that it is requisite for us to appoint special hours for this exercise, hours which are not to pass away without prayer, and during which the whole affections of our minds are to be completely occupied; namely, when we rise in the morning, before we commence our daily work, when we sit down to food, when by the blessing of God we have taken it, and when we retire to rest. This, however, must not be a superstitious observance of hours, by which, as it were, performing a task to God, we think we are discharged as to other hours; it should rather be considered as a discipline by which our weakness is exercised, and ever and anon stimulated." (3.20.50).

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (trans. Henry Beveridge; Accordance electronic ed. Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845), n.p.

 

[TeachingTulip]

My husband and I give thanks for every meal; small or large; private or public.

For we genuinely are appreciative of any food provided to us, and know first-hand, such blessing is not to be taken for granted.