*NOTE – The following post will also appear on Michael Whitworth’s Start2finish blog. Michael is a hardworking author and preacher. He recently published his impressive commentary on Genesis, Epic of God which I would encourage you to check out. In April, he is doing 30 days of Proverbs on his blog, since he is busy with his first child (Congrats, Michael). I am contributing this post to the series.
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Have you heard the following humorous story:
by DragonTash at www.sxc.hu
The rich industrialist was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting idly by his boat, he asked, “Why aren’t you out there fishing?” “Because I’ve caught enough fish for today,” was the reply. “Why don’t you catch more fish than you need?” asked the rich man. “What would I do with them?” “You could earn more money and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you’d have a fleet of ships and be rich like me!” The fisherman asked, “Then what would I do?” “Then you could sit down and enjoy life!” “What do you think I’m doing now?”
Agur, a humble man who is sharing some wisdom in Proverbs 30, might have a similar perspective as the fisherman in the above story.
He writes in Proverbs 30:7-9:
“Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”
Realizing his frailties he asks the Lord for help in two areas before he dies. He wants help with his integrity and his contentment.
1. Integrity – He understands the temptation to give into falsehood and lying. Proverbs speaks often about the danger of lying and the need to preserve our integrity (Prov. 6:17, 19; 10:18; 12:16, 19, 22; etc). He realized this is a temptation that he must constantly guard against.
2. Contentment – Next Agur asks that he be given neither poverty nor riches. He just wanted his “daily bread” (Mat. 6:11). Wealth might cause him to forget the Lord (Deut. 8:12-17) and poverty could cause him to steal. So he asks to be fed with the food that is “needful for him.” He only wanted what he needed.
What about you and me?
These two concepts are connected by Agur. His integrity will help him be content and vise-versa. We live in a society that fails miserably in both areas. The real issue for Agur is the attitude and priority of the heart.
Can you and I honestly pray Agur’s request? Likely, the part about integrity is easy to pray, but hard to live. But what about contentment? Would you be happy knowing you will never have an abundance nor a lack? This goes against the American dream in some ways doesn’t it? Agur could never have imagined having the luxuries that you and I have in 2013. Scholars call his request a desire for the “middle state.” All of us think we are in the “middle class” right? Maybe we need to honestly see the dangers of wealth and of poverty and be thankful for what we have in the present. Are we really content with our daily bread?
Change your perspective today: Ask God to give you neither abundance nor lack, this will help keep sin at bay.
