“O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.” – Proverbs 30:7-9 New Living Translation
Chapter 30 of Proverbs is a compilation of proverbs written by Agur*, son of Jakeh. Other than this we know nothing of either Agur or his father since this is the only mention of them in the entire Bible.
These are two excellent requests that this brother makes of the Lord. Regarding lying, one’s integrity is at stake. It is definitely not a good thing if someone knows they cannot trust you because you run fast and loose with the truth. We must guard our integrity as if our life depended on it, for without the trust of others we could never be an effective ambassador for Christ.
It can be said that having either too much or too little of anything is not a favorable situation to be in. Christians are faced with the predicament that great wealth could possibly cause them to deny Christ with their actions, feeling that they may no longer need him. That is a trick of Satan that works only if we allow it to. Poverty can cause believers to have their faith erode away, thinking God no longer cares for them. The proverb speaks of a proper way to think of our desires. It is not essential to have a multitude of material possessions. Such things tend to take the place of the Lord because they rob us of our attention to spiritual things. While that may not always be the case why invite that possibility into your life?
The Lord has riches you can’t possibly imagine in store for the faithful servant who keeps his focus squarely on the things of God throughout their life. Nothing this side of heaven can compare with the blessings he has in store for us as his children. If your main focus in life is accumulating wealth you are, in effect, insulting the Lord by implying that he is not enough. Having much wealth in and of itself isn’t sinful in the least. It all depends on how you got it and what you do with it. Always make your main focus the ways of the Lord and you will be satisfied. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
*Agur ben Jakeh was the compiler of a collection of proverbs found in, which is sometimes known as the Book of Agur or Sayings of Agur. Note: ‘ben’ means ‘son of ‘ in Hebrew.
No comments:
Post a Comment