January 13, 2009
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Do you pray before your meals?
I was reading a comment by Lamb on a post by her husband and she brought up something I wanted to talk about with everyone and hear what they say.
Do you pray before your meals? Did you know that the Torah/Bible command is to actually pray after meals
Duet 8:10 “When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you
What are your thoughts?
Comments (45)
Yip Yip Yip …6 ppl 7 days works out great.
& I am rec’n bc Enquiring Minds Wanna Know!
We do. Well, actually Samuel does. It’s so cute. He insists that we all fold our hands the same way, and won’t begin until everyone is ready, quiet and with closed eyes. Then he starts like he is writing a letter “Dear Lord,”. He also makes sure to say thanks for each item on the table, be it food or condiments. Then we have to say thanks for the chairs, the table itself, the pots and pans…
I love him.
We do pray before meals. I cringe up a bit when I’m forced to hold hands around the table…my dad made us do that and it was all a big show. He might yell and be a jerk and then it was “we are going to holds because we are a family and we love each other”.
Well I have never really liked praying before meals…Okay shoot me for being honest, but it is rarely out of a heart of reverance. I constantly am thinking hurry up I am hungry. Also, the kids want to just get to their food right away too. I think that makes total sense to pray afterwards…God knows our hearts and he knows us sinful humans would actually be a whole lot more thankful after we filled ourselves than before. I might just start doing this. I do love God and am thankful for what he blessed me with but I am one track minded when I am hungry.
Thanks for freeing me up
Yes, I do. After sounds alright, but that’s not what I do. But hey, if it floats your boat…
I’m not Jewish, but I respect their customs. I do pray “before” every meal
@James3_1 - that is “sooooo” cute!
We do pray before our meals, but I was unaware that you were to pray AFTER your meals! Interesting!!
We don’t have a problem with either praying before or praying after since praying is recognizing that all sustenance comes from His hand as it is written in Psalm 145:15-16, “The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”
There is a prayer recited during the afternoon prayer ( called Minchah ) from the Siddur (Jewish Prayer book) called the Ashrei which simply is a reading from the Psalms that begins with Psalm 84:5 and Psalm 144:15 and then recites all of Psalm 145. Y’shua when He instructed His disciples to pray included the part saying “Give us this day our daily bread…”. In our family we try to sing Adon Y’shua’s prayer as often as we can before or after a meal. We also say/sing a blessing where we thank Abba for the Good Land (Israel) and for the nourishment after the meal remembering His hand Who has satisfied us. This latter blessing/prayer is short which makes it good for our children.
Great question!
Yes we always pray before we eat and we do this when we are also in a restaurant
I remember my grandmother, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, into a Protestant family, in the year 1875. Granny told me that in her family home, when she was growing up, the custom was to ask the blessing both before and after eating the meal.
In my parents’ home, where I grew up, the custom was for my father to pray BEFORE the meal. He always referred to this exercise as “Giving Thanks.” My wife and I continued this practice in our home, with our children. And we also pray briefly before the meal when we eat in a restaurant, or on a cruise ship.
Why not give thanks for the food before and for the satisfaction after? I think a lot of people do it before they eat because Jesus did it a few times. You can’t be too thankful. I don’t think you can pray too much or be disobedient by praying lol. So that’s good!
Beautiful new layout!
I had no idea the Bible said that. I wonder how we got into the tradition of praying before meals…
yes, I pray before. Never knew it was supposed to be after. Maybe it should be before and after.
I was so busy chuckling thinking about how Samuel prays that I totally missed the point of the post. Forgive me. I would like to suggest something though…
Deuteronomical instruction, for the most part, was the Law as you know. You also know that the Law was not the point so much as it was to show us our sin. “For apart from the law I would not have known sin” Romans 3-6 covers this pretty good. But you also know that we aren’t to sin more that grace may abound. So how do we balance what laws we are to still follow and what laws we aren’t to still follow? Does blessing the Lord after we are filled and satisfied apply to us now?
I say no. Why?
Acts 27:35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat. 36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.
Matthew 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
But does that mean that praying after is more pleasing to God or praying before is more pleasing to God? Neither.
Romans 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
The question, the intent… that we be thankful. Period. I will say this though, having tasted my wife’s cooking occasionally it’s best that I give thanks before so I don’t have to lie. SOOOOO KIDDING! If she sees this I am dead. She is a great cook.
@James3_1 - That is precious. Seriously… too cute!!!
I do, though not consistently. I got out of the habit a while back, and it’s something I’m working on.
@James3_1 - Jews had gotten into the tradition of Praying before and After the meal. Even though they were only commanded to pray after. That is where the tradition of praying before comes from but somewhere along the line we stopped doing the part that was actually commanded and that is the after the meal and just kept the part which was tradition which is the before.
@triciaplumley - @TheGreatBout - @Search_My_Heart_oh_Lord - @ilovemy2babyboys -
I do both. Before and after… as scripture commands after, and the Messiah blessed it beforehand.
@James3_1 - Was that all the law is for? to show us our sin?
Scripture states that it is a duality, life and death. Sin is the death- which is the breaking of the Law…
But often the life part is looked over… The Law is the word of God, that word made flesh… Our Messiah, how he lives and how we are to imitate him.
The way of the savior is life.
@Kristenmomof3 - Perhaps, but then you realize that Jesus Himself disobeyed a command, right? Which isn’t possible, we know. So when He “took bread, blessed it and gave it to the disciples-” we have a problem… or do we?
This is one of those things that the Jews weren’t reprimanded for not obeying, nor was it a command that Jesus followed in His time on earth, at least not every time. Therefore, we can understand that it’s not the time of thanking for us that is the point. The issue is a heart of thanksgiving, and recognition that all Good things come from the Father of Lights.
At least in my studious yet insufficient understanding.
Can I ask you a question? What is the reason behind praying after? We know that all the laws had the additional purpose of being beneficial to us in one way or another. What was the benefit of this one?
@James3_1 - Actually he didn’t disobey. Praying before hand was not a sin. If He had disobeyed you would read a big thing about how He DIDN”T pray afterward. He prayed afterward also, like commanded or there would have been a big thing about Him disobeying the Torah.
@TheGiantSlayer - Well… I’m not the least bit surprised that it’s you who is making this comment. (Consider that a compliment.) “A duality” hmm? I ask then, what was it that brought death, but the law? More accurately, it is said that disobeying the Law brought death, but it wasn’t speaking of physical death so much as the wages of sin type of death. So what are we to discern from the Law? That we can’t keep it! That doesn’t mean we aren’t to try, but then… if we are to follow the law, then why aren’t we slaughtering lambs without blemish? Why aren’t we stoning to death adulterous women? There has to be a balance. There has to be the understanding that the Law was given to show us our sin. We must then understand that without seeing our sin, grace would be of no comfort to us. From that we must understand that as recipients of grace, if so be that we have tasted His graciousness, we are to live lives Holy… set apart. So there is merit in blessing the Lord for the good land He has given us after we are satisifed, sure. But are we no less Christian if we don’t? No. Is God displeased with us if we don’t? NO. If it were so, He is also displeased with His Son. NO.
But you are right in your intonation. The law does have benefit to us. Just not the 613 that the Jews of that day knew to be the Law. Not in a totalitarian way. We worship the Risen Lord because He is the end of the Law, and for many more reasons of course.
I am not a despiser of obedience. I only seek to remind - “You who are slaves to the Law, you have fallen from Grace…”
@Kristenmomof3 - One problem. Scripture doesn’t say that, so we can’t either. We must use scripture as it is, that is what was said. We are told that He prayed before and we aren’t told if He prayed after. We have another example of a time Jesus dealt with food, and it’s intake.
Matthew 14:18He said, Bring them hither to me.
19And 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.
20And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
Again it tells us He blessed it before they ate, and again it says nothing of Him thanking the Father for it after. We are building a precedent here of praying before, and we are not seeing the reiteration of praying after. We can assume He did, but that is all we can do. We can not state factually that He did. Therefore we have a conclusion based on fact that if nothing else, praying before is not sin. As such, we MUST exercise that which is commonly misunderstood to warrant so called “carnal Christianity” but in fact denotes situations like this… liberty.
(By the way, I am not trying to be argumentative. At least not with angst or displeasure. I consider this “reasoning together.”
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and to be clear, I am not saying we shouldn’t pray after as well. In fact, I think I will start that in my family. It only reiterates thankfulness, and it’s evidence of a truly thankful heart. Your post has taught me something. Thank you! Truly!
@James3_1 - Jesus orders Christians to follow the Law of Moses in the Old Testament: “Do
not think that I [Jesus] have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until
heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke or a pen, will
by any means disappear from the Law until everything is
accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18)” It is quite clear from these
verses from the New Testament that Jesus peace be upon him did honor the Old Testament
Christians must follow the laws of the Old Testament that had not been modified or replaced by newer ones in the New Testament. Otherwise, if we were to follow the NT alone, then we would have no life laws or directions to follow. This means a son can marry his father’s former wife, or a brother can marry his sister, or an uncle can marry his niece, etc… since the NT never talked about these issues.
I have to go change the wash…I will be back
@Kristenmomof3 - Well. At least you are fighting toughly!
I am not saying that we are to be NT Christians only. Perish the thought. What I am saying is we need to remember is to not put mre focus on His saying He hasn’t come to abolish them than we put on His saying that He came to fulfill them. We can’t understand correctly what He means about abolishment until we understand what He means when He says fulfilling them. Some say it refers merely to His obeying all the law. Not so! His fulfillment of the law was the finishing of the revelation of the Laws purpose. He was what Adam was not, nor could be.
Also, we have to ask what is meant by “until everything is accomplished?” Do you think there is any relation to this and His “It is finished” on the cross?
Also, I am not making the case that since the NT doesn’t say to do it, we don’t have to anymore. Far from it! For that is the very doomed defense raised by those who heretically declare homosexuality is no longer sin. I am a student of the OT as much as the NT and I realize and confess that the modern church has strayed from what is known as Lordship Salvation. In other words, if He is Savior, He is also Lord, and if He is not my Lord He can’t be my Savior. (Not as though He is slave to my decision, rather it’s proof I am not His)
What I am saying is that we can’t assume someone does something if it’s not mentioned, unless it’s supported by other Biblical doctrine or evidence. We can’t say for sure that Jesus held a cloth to wipe away His tears just because it says He wept. That is the only point I am really making there. It’s in doing this that we have been attacked by those who have fallen away into deceiving doctrines.
Unless you are enjoying this and want to continue, I am going to leave it here. You’ve inspired me to start praying after as well, and shown me where that was even an instruction. But I will hold fast to the posit that we are not bound by command, rather we are bound by His voice.
“My sheep know Me, and they hear My voice.”
(Edit: Don’t anyone dare come to me and tell me that they heard Jesus audibly tell them it’s ok to do this or that which the Bible says is sin! )
@James3_1 - ALL Christians should be listening to and doing the Old Testament and the New Testament. Nothing should be excluded. They are both applicable to today. The New Testament just adds to (enhances) the Old Testament, it does NOT do away with the Old. Neither is irrelivant.
“It is easier for Heaven and
Earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the letter of the law to become
invalid.”
(Luke 16:17 NAB)
Why did Jesus seem to say it was so important to keep the law? Why did Jesus Himself obey the law? Because by obeying the law, you prove that you belong to God.
Matthew 12:33 says “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.”
@Kristenmomof3 - I am not arguing in the least with this comment.
What of those who never knew that instruction was given? (referring to actual Christians here) Are they to be judged as bad fruit?
@James3_1 - I don’t mind discussion
as long as we all keep it nice, which we have been
@Kristenmomof3 - Nice? Why…how dare you accuse me of such a thing! Don’t you know I am a mean old ogre who is never wrong?!?!?!
I gotta go for a while. Samuel and I are going to take a walk or do something. (Perhaps some prayer that it warms up to 70 or so?…
)
@James3_1 - Christian’s should be studying the word. We should be studying and memorizing the word. We should not be in ignorance of what the word says. To many Christian’s don’t read the Torah (“Old” Testament) and only stick to the “New” which is why they are in ignorance.
Maybe the problem first started when we started calling them “Old” and “new” as you know people thing well that is old…don’t worry about Old new is always better.
@Kristenmomof3 - I agree again. (I do that more than you might realize) But it’s not in the calling them old and new that the problem is found. It’s in the fact that many who call themselves Christians are such in name only. Those who are DO study the Word because they are being given new desires. What they used to hate they now love. What they loved, they now hate. Daily the Lord of mercies draws them closer to Him, and the result is a desire to know Him. We cannot be Christians and not desire to grow closer to Him. It’s simply foolish. Why would a Christian not want to know every single word that proceeded from the mouth of their Lord? But you are right, the attitude is “new is better,” it’s just not Christians who have been given a heart of flesh and had a heart of stone removed that have that attitude.
Yes, Christians should be studying the Word. But what of the new Christian? the question remains. Is the one who has not yet read that instruction, and consequently still prays before eating, judged as bad fruit? The point I am making, (and also exhibiting) is that we aren’t to be scolded for not doing something until we are taught it’s something we should do and then fail to do it. Remember that true STUDY takes time. If we are to obey immediately a verse we read, without seeing systematically what else is said or taught of it, then the new Christian has to start in Genesis, and will be stoning people before their first year of grace…
I am only advocating liberty to the weaker brother, co-mingled with teaching.
and I do have to go, so if you respond it will be a while before I can get to it. Thanks for the discussion!
@Kristenmomof3 - @James3_1 - We do see Jesus leading the disciples in a hymn before going out, after the Last Supper. The hymn is a form of prayer. Actually seeing that Jesus is not noted as praying after meals is inciteful, when a lot of notice is placed on his blessing the bread before.
@James3_1 - That is a question that I am faced with time and again, and there is a sufficient answers for it… now I could try to explain it all in my own words and do a pretty crappy job butchering what I mean to say, or you could readthis article that addresses some of your points…. if not all.
If you do not wish to click the link, I would be happy to copy and paste it here for your to read, lol.
Grace and Law are not in opposition. Never have been, never will be. Just is the law was never for salvation. Never has been, never will be.
@TheGiantSlayer - If you were referring to the question of why we don’t sacrifice lambs anymore, it was rhetorical. I re-read what I wrote you and realized that maybe I suffer from the same disease of butchering my point.
I am not saying that Grace and the Law are in opposition to each other. Just so we are clear. They are two parts of the ONE story, or revelation. We can’t have one without the other, nor do we understand the other without the one.
If I remember correctly, this general topic has been the baseline for most of our communication (at least serious discussion that is) and it’s one that I think we agree more on than I am able to effectively communicate.
My only hesitation is that when we speak of obeying the Law, we should endeavor most diligently to make it absolutely clear that salvation is not from obedience to the Law, rather that obedience of the Law is only possible through the enabling of the Lord by whom we are saved by grace, throuh faith. Otherwise, we end up with many people who think they are saved because they *think* they follow the Lord when in effect they are still relying on their own righteousness, which is not righteousness at all. Hence, when discussions like these occur, I generally gravitate more towards the preaching of grace than I do the obedience of the Law. Just as Christians are to be Holy, which means obedient as well as set apart, once saved, the lost need to understand the Law for it’s revealing effect before they even begin to attempt obeying it. For what pleasure does God find in a lost sinner trying to obey Him? None. Our works are as filthy rags without the blood of Christ washing them.
Does that help?
Wow! what food for thought! (no pun intended). I never realized that the Torah commanded to pray after meals. We have always prayed before meals, because of the Scriptures quoted by others in this discussion. But as I am thinking about it now, afterwards the person who made the meal is thanked, and no thought is even given to the LORD. I am going to seriously consider to do this. Like someone else said, there is nothing wrong with thanking the Lord before and after. What a great discussion!
BTW, I love your new background!
@nachbtikvah - thank you. My wonderful husband made it for me
@James3_1 - @TheGiantSlayer - @pb49r - @Kristenmomof3 -
James3_1, pb49r already provided a tangible example of Y’shua blessing His Father and thanking Him for satisfying Him after a meal, the Passover Seder meal before Y’shua was arrested. Jews sing the prayers and Scripture as a form of blessing and thanksgiving. Also remember that if Y’shua did not obey the command to thank His Father after a meal it would be a sin and He was truly sinless. If He was not then we have no atonement.
Let Y’shua’s words settle it (Matthew 5:17-20):
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I
did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until
heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall
pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls
one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others
to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven;
but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in
the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness
surpassesthat of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the
kingdom of heaven.“
We are more righteous then the Pharisees and the Scribes those of us through the Messiah Y’shua’s atoning death and resurrection, cleansing us and imparting the indwelling Holy Spirit of the LORD in us Who guides us into obedience. We are considered righteous because the Righteous One, Y’shua, blessed be He, made us righteous through His trusting faithfulness. Our atonement is better than that of the blood of goats and lambs for our spirits have been made new in Him and He has given us His incorruptible seed. We are able to walk out the commands in love in our relationship with Him. It is our faith in action. Our love at work, in action, moving with, following, abiding, communing with Y’shua. Our salvation depends only upon Him. Our response to His saving grace is love and gratitude which is defined in Him since He is the Word of God, as simply obedience.
John the Beloved in Revelation received these words from Heaven (an angel) in 14:12:
“Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments
of God and their faith in Jesus.“
Y’shua speaks to John the Beloved at the end of the book of Revelation saying this:
“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every
man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that
do his commandments, that they, may have right to the tree of
life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
(Revelation of Y’shua HaMashiach / Revelation of Jesus the Christ 22:12-14)
And before these words it is written “And he (Y’shua) saith unto me, Seal not
the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.“
This word given from Y’shua is after His resurrection. His teachings are the commandments for
again He is the Word of God. He is the Torah.
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments;
and His commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).”
Wow the discussion here is great.
I wanted to point out what God said after that command:
Deut 8:10-20
“When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the
LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.
Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping
His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I
am commanding you today;otherwise, when you have eaten and
are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them,
and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver
and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart
will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who
brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its
fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water;
be brought water for you out of the rock of flint. “In the wilderness He fed
you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and
that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.
“Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of
my hand made me this wealth.’ “But you shall remember the LORD
your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that
He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, asit is
this day. “It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and
go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify
against you today that you will surely perish. “Like the nations that the
LORD makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would
not listen to the voice of the LORD your God.
No one likes to be taken for granted including Adonai. This reminds me of the story of the lepers who were healed
and only one returned to Yeshua to thank him, all of the others forgot. But truly we are to pray without ceasing
anyway.
Luke 17:11-19
While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee.
As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they
raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them,
He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they
were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed,
turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving
thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten
cleansed? But the nine—where are they? “Was no one found who returned to give glory to God,
except this foreigner?”And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”
@koldodi - I don’t have time to address all of this, but that you begin with what you feel is the need to reiterate pb49′r’s evidence that Jesus blessed His Father after a meal shows me you may be missing the point of what I am saying or thinking I am saying something I am not. I may or may not go into your comment further, but I don’t really see the need anymore. My wife has just come home, my son is napping… it’s time for a romantic lunch…
Thank you though for taking the time to be thorough, and for using scripture. This is the kind of discussion I am more apt to become involved in. I do so love thought out and sincere discussions on God’s teaching!
My husband & I pray (give thanks) before we eat. Both our families did that, too. I look at praying before eating the meal as showing the Lord my thankfulness for His provision, honoring Him before I satisfy my needs.
I never quite thot of that Deuteronomy scripture as talking about praying after partaking of a meal (I don’t know much about Jewish tradition). I had looked on it as after they had taken possession of their Promised Land & partaken of its “fruits” that they not forget the Lord once they have come into the Land & are living in prosperity that He provided. I’ll have to go back & read it again with what you have said in mind.
I think the Lord wants us to have hearts of thankfulness, lives of continual thankfulness for all His blessings & provisions, but especially for His mercy & grace in our lives, for calling us & saving us; offering thanks continually to our Lord, the God of Israel, & His Son, Jesus Christ.
We have always been brought up to do both. We pray before the meals, asking God to bless the food that He has provided us with. After the meal, we thank the Lord for the food He has provided and pray for nourishment. We also read the Bible after meals, asking God for spiritual nourishment. I don’t think that prayer before or after, or both, is a command necessarily. It’s not prescribed, nor prohibited, there is suggestion though in what Jesus did.
yes, prayer before eating is a given at this house. Of course, we were all taught that, to ask the Lord to bless our food, that it can be used to nourish our bodies, and we thank Him for it. Not everyone has what we do!
As for praying after, it is/was Amish custom to return thanks. Some of my grandparents did this. No one was dismissed from the table until this was done. Both the before and after prayers were silent. My parents didn’t carry on the after meal prayer custom, and the before prayer was nearly always silent.
I’m guessing the audible prayer before meals came more into use when what is called the Beachey Amish today left the oringinal Amish group. I have also noticed that Dh’s parents don’t practice audible prayer either when just by themselves. In our home, we pray silent unless it’s the children and myself or all of us together. Our son loves to pray out loud for everything, too.
Sometimes we sing a prayer song together. We also hold hands.
Not praying before a meal reminds me of the little story about a boy who was taught to give thanks, went to visit someone who didn’t. After sitting there waiting for his hosts to pray, they wondered why he wasn’t eating. He said that he was waiting for them to pray. They admitted that they don’t do this. The little boy then replied, “Oh, you do just like my dog does. He starts right in!”
How about the verse, 1Co 11:24 “And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said…”. There are many others too that say after he had given thanks he ate. We always pray before.