"Two things I ask of you, O Lord;
do not refuse me before I die;
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the Lord?
Or I may become poor and steal and so
dishonor the name of my God."
Proverbs 30: 8-9
do not refuse me before I die;
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the Lord?
Or I may become poor and steal and so
dishonor the name of my God."
Proverbs 30: 8-9
As I was reading through the book of Proverbs, these two verses stuck out to me greatly. Here we see that Agur, an oracle, has a content attitude. He only asks for two things:
1) That God would keep falsehoods and lies far away from him so that he would not be refused before he dies
2) That God would give him only what he needs
So what do those two requests mean? What is Agur really trying to say? What does it mean for us?
1) Agur acknowledges that he can be separated from God if he starts to believe in "falsehoods and lies." For us, "falsehoods and lies" might be lies that society tells us to be true. For example, society tells us that to be successful, we must reach the highest position in our job, make the most money, and live for ourselves. Friends may tell us that the only way to be a friend is to do everything that our friends want, even if it hurts us or goes against our morals. Television might tell us that to be desirable, we have to wear the right clothes and look a certain way. All of those are falsehoods and lies that can keep us from God. As I've encouraged before, as we continue to spend time with God in our lives and read His Word, we can sort through what is a lie and what is truth. The more we get to know the God of Truth, the more we can determine what lies we're being told.
2) Agur recognizes that when things are going well for him, he has a tendency to believe that he has accomplished all the good things in his life and that he has the ability to control whether or not good or bad things happen in his life. Agur realizes that this isn't true! God is actually the one who gives any good thing to us and is the only person who can give good things. We have not earned any good thing in our life. That's why Agur asks that God not give him too much in case Agur forgets who has given him those blessings. Further, Agur also realizes that he also has a tendency to blame God for all the bad things in his life and is prone to sinning when his life is in a bad situation. For us, this might be how we blame other people for why we are in debt, or that it was our brother or sister who made us hit them. Agur asks that God give him just enough so that he would not feel as if he needed to sin to survive, which would dishonor God.
Do you have enough courage and faith to ask God to do the same in your life? Are you willing to ask God to protect you from living a life away from Him? Are you willing to ask Him to give you just what you need--no more, no less?
Examine your heart to see if you struggle with these requests. If so, ask God to allow you to repent of sin that is keeping you from having a content heart and that He would give you a heart ready to ask these of Him.
Until next time,
1) That God would keep falsehoods and lies far away from him so that he would not be refused before he dies
2) That God would give him only what he needs
So what do those two requests mean? What is Agur really trying to say? What does it mean for us?
1) Agur acknowledges that he can be separated from God if he starts to believe in "falsehoods and lies." For us, "falsehoods and lies" might be lies that society tells us to be true. For example, society tells us that to be successful, we must reach the highest position in our job, make the most money, and live for ourselves. Friends may tell us that the only way to be a friend is to do everything that our friends want, even if it hurts us or goes against our morals. Television might tell us that to be desirable, we have to wear the right clothes and look a certain way. All of those are falsehoods and lies that can keep us from God. As I've encouraged before, as we continue to spend time with God in our lives and read His Word, we can sort through what is a lie and what is truth. The more we get to know the God of Truth, the more we can determine what lies we're being told.
2) Agur recognizes that when things are going well for him, he has a tendency to believe that he has accomplished all the good things in his life and that he has the ability to control whether or not good or bad things happen in his life. Agur realizes that this isn't true! God is actually the one who gives any good thing to us and is the only person who can give good things. We have not earned any good thing in our life. That's why Agur asks that God not give him too much in case Agur forgets who has given him those blessings. Further, Agur also realizes that he also has a tendency to blame God for all the bad things in his life and is prone to sinning when his life is in a bad situation. For us, this might be how we blame other people for why we are in debt, or that it was our brother or sister who made us hit them. Agur asks that God give him just enough so that he would not feel as if he needed to sin to survive, which would dishonor God.
Do you have enough courage and faith to ask God to do the same in your life? Are you willing to ask God to protect you from living a life away from Him? Are you willing to ask Him to give you just what you need--no more, no less?
Examine your heart to see if you struggle with these requests. If so, ask God to allow you to repent of sin that is keeping you from having a content heart and that He would give you a heart ready to ask these of Him.
Until next time,
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