Thoughts for another day

April 26, 2012

Today's verse: Pro. 30:7,8. Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:  (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

In Proverbs apart from the many wonderful  nuggets of wisdom we're fed with, we also have the above as words of Agur, the son of Jakeh (we don't know who he is except that one can infer he was a prominent man, or how else would, what he said, be in the Bible?).  Our above Scripture was flagged out to me when reading a book on Prayer by Alan Redpath who writes on the wonderful prayer the Lord taught His disciples and us, 'The Our Father.'

In the book I saw, the sufficiency and economics of prayer excellently postulated by the author and this verse is an indicator of what one should pray for.  It struck me much so it became our Scripture for today.  Agur prays to the Lord saying he requires two things of Him.  The first is to remove all vanity and lies.  This, to ensure God isn't just a symbol of good feeling to whom I reach once in a while refusing to acknowledge Him as Someone Great and Awesome, for in my pride I see only myself as great; and so begin my lies and meaningless self exaltation.  So it's best to be without vanity and lies, for then God is real and becomes one's sufficiency.

The second thing Agur prays for is God give neither poverty nor riches and feed food that's convenient.  Why? Verse 9 explains it beautifully, 'Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.'  Don't you find this prayer wonderful?  I believe it should be ours too for it is fit and right before the Almighty. It expresses the desire to be dependent on Him in every situation, both good and bad.  It teaches that we needn't only seek good from God but also the not-so-good for then our feet will stay firmly planted on the ground, unyielding when the winds of sin blow around.  My friend suffice it to say but that the Word of God comes to our help in praying when we run out of words or thoughts to pray; and diligently seeking them will make us sweet to God and His love will flow to us, immeasurably.