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Proverbs 30:7-9 ESV

“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.”

 

In a world driven by the relentless pursuit of wealth, it’s easy to lose sight of what truly matters. As Christians, we are called to a higher standard, one that transcends the extremes of poverty and riches. The wisdom of Proverbs offers a profound prayer that resonates deeply with our pursuit of balance. This prayer is a timeless reminder that our ultimate reliance should be on God, not on the abundance or scarcity of material possessions. It challenges us to seek a life of balance, contentment and trust, where our faith is not shaken by either lack or excess. Let’s dive in and explore how this prayer by Agur can shape our hearts and our lives…if we dare to pray it!

 

Give me neither poverty nor riches

Agur, the son of Jakeh, is the writer of the text we are looking at.  We know little to nothing about him, or about to whom he is writing.  Yet, it must have been important, so much that the Holy Spirit saw it fit and right to have these penned words included into our Scriptures for all eternity!

Agur, here in this text, is requesting two things of the Lord.  “Give me neither poverty nor riches.”

  1. Remove falsehood and lying from him, and…
  2. Provide daily sustenance without the temptations of wealth and poverty.

 

There is a “giver.”

Who is the “giver”?  Agur makes it clear here in the text that it is none other than the Lord God Himself! God is the giver for the poor and the rich. And Agur did, just as we ought to do regularly, ask God not to put me in either of these categories because of their particular temptations in both categories.

Just for those who operate in perfect order, we will dive into Agur’s request of the “removal of falsehood and lying” but will do it later on in this episode.  First we want to dive into the latter part of verse 8, including verse 9 too about the poverty and riches as Agur speaks about

 

“Give me neither poverty…”

We need to ask a question to get our thinking going in the right direction, and that is, what is poverty?  A good big-picture of this definition is this:

Poverty – is a lack of possessions (Material, Work, Relationships, Resources etc…)

  • “Poverty consists of broken relationships that each person has with God, self, others, and the rest of creation. This brokenness is manifest at both the individual and structural (community, national, and international) levels” (When Helping Hurts)

Does God have a problem with poverty? Absolutely. 

Broken relationships are the ultimate cause of poverty. God cares deeply about reconciliation and resolving brokenness. When impoverished, you are typically held back from experiencing all that God has desired for you. Poverty easily traps people in soul-crushing cycles, instead of freeing the soul to serve and to love. Poverty is a problem, and should be addressed holistically from a Biblical perspective, which doesn’t simply mean just giving money. It means to help restore broken systems and broken relationships to enable the community and the individual to live the way that God created them to live. 

Think about this in its application to Church leaders (Deacons) and also Missionaries. Yet, it does not stop there, for the application also spans to individuals with wealth as they should get involved and assist/help where they can. Wealth is not purely good, and poverty is not purely good. There are dangers associated with both of them, as we will see later in this text.

 

“lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”

What are the temptations and risks for those living in poverty?

First, a major temptation from living/being in poverty is that it can lead you to points of desperation, which can in turn lead you to acting out in bad ways, such as stealing! Second, poverty can and almost will lead one to think that more money will fix my issues.

Solomon speaks well to this in Eccl 5:10, which says: “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10, NIV84)  

Solomon spoke so well here!  All too much, not just back in Solomon’s day, but New Testament times…and even today those that are struggling (poverty or not) believe that the source of our “rescue” is just having “more” money!  We take God as our “satisfier” and “provider” out of the equation!

Both of these have an end result that is damaging to the individual, and more so it brings about damage to the Name of the Lord if the person professes to know and love the Lord!  People that know and/or see these actions and attitudes in the life of the believer in Christ will be challenged, for what they are seeing is not matching up to that person in poverty’s profession.  Thus, the profaning of the name of the Lord is what is seen, heard and understood by those around that individual and the Lord also!

So how is one to approach this delicate topic of poverty?

  • Poverty alleviation is never easy and often tricky. 
    • One of the ways that many Christians try to eliminate poverty is based on a wrong understanding of where poverty comes from, and therefore we offer the wrong solution. 
    • Often, Christians give money and resources too early and too much, which causes the local impoverished community to not have any ownership of their efforts to get out of poverty.  In the end, this very well could make things worse for many, not just those in poverty. 
  • This is where investing in businesses that will grow and support their own communities is important. Doing so will help them live out “imago dei”.
  • A good place to learn more about this is by going to our show notes and clicking the link of the Summary Document of the book When Helping Hurts.

Learning why one is in poverty is key!  Putting a plan together to assist one that is in poverty to start and even complete their journey out of it is very, very important.  Doing this will end the cycle of poverty!

 

“…nor riches;… “


“Give me neither poverty nor riches.” The Biblical text continues and Agur says that he wants the Lord to not even give him “riches.”  So what would be a good definition of “riches”? Riches are simply an abundance of possessions (which would include things and money).

Now, at the beginning of this section we want to make clear that wealth is not sinful! Actually, wealth is good and can be used for good!  And know this very important Scripture. In Deut. 8:18 we read: “You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth.” 

Wealth is a gift from the Lord!

There are many wealthy people in Scripture, whether it’s Job, David, Solomon, or Abraham. In the New Testament there are examples of wealthy individuals for blessing the church, and they are never condemned for their wealth.

At the same time, the Bible is also very real and clear about the struggles that those with wealth often have. Wealth corrupted Kings and caused Godly men to go astray. There are many warnings that we have discussed in past episodes that warn against the excesses of wealth. In this passage, Agur gives us his primary fear of the temptation of wealth, and he clearly does not want to be put into this position!  Why is that?  Agur says this…

 

“…lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”

Here is another good way to look at this verse…for Agur’s request is this:

“Feed me with the food that is needful.”  In other words, give me what I need. This is not necessarily what i want. Why does Agur make this request? I am going to conjecture that HE KNOWS HIS HEART…AND THE LEANINGS OF HIS HEART! He knows that if he gets more than what he needs, and remains in a state of abundance, he may not feel the need for God.  Clearly that scared him to the point that he PLEADED with God in this request for Him to NOT put him into this position!

So what is the temptation or the danger for those with riches?  It is called…Self-Reliance

There is a danger of feeling “full”. 

We need to feel a need for God to be our provider. If we have all that we need, want with abundance, one could very well feel that they are self-reliant as we spoke about earlier, and there is no need outside of themselves for their provisions to be met. But the Scriptures speak otherwise, for we read in the Lord’s Prayer a power phrase – “Give us this day our daily bread.” 

When was the last time that you actually prayed that prayer and really meant it??? For almost all of those that are listening right now, your daily bread is in your pantry.  It is also in your refrigerator, your freezer and yes, even the one that you have in the basement or in your garage! It is also in your bank account, and let’s throw in your 401k also!

We don’t think we need God to provide us with our food and daily provisions because we have taken care of it ourselves!

We’re not trying to venerate hunger as a virtue, but there is a benefit that hunger provides to us, reminding us of our constant need for God’s provision (this is why fasting is a good part of one’s spiritual disciplines).

Denying God – 

What does it look like for the wealthy to deny God? Often, the denial is not a hard and fast, “I don’t believe in God anymore…”, but it is a soft act like it really doesn’t matter. We have a subdued processing in our hearts/minds like God is not that important. This is living like a practical atheist! Even if we go to church on Sundays we ultimately, we live in a way that says, “who is the Lord?” I did all the work! I provide for my family.

 

“Remove far from me falsehood and lying…”

Are falsehood and lying a subset of poverty and riches? 

Give me neither poverty nor riches is a subset of this sentence poetically. It seems like these are connected. For the one that says “Who is the Lord” and stealing are both forms of falsehood and lying. So a good deduction here would be that both poverty and riches potentially create an integrity conflict in the heart of mankind. 

Riches (self-focused)  and poverty (stealing) drive one towards that same falsehood, that same heart of acquisitiveness which leads you to falsehood and lying. 

This brings to mind the 2 great commands found in Scripture, which are:

  1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind
  2. Love your neighbor as yourself. 

Profaning the name of God is not loving God. Stealing from a neighbor (or someone) is not loving (your neighbor) The resulting temptation of poverty and riches has a direct association with how well we live out these 2 commands.

 

“…feed me with the food that is needful for me,..”

God knows what I need. I think I do. But in reality, I don’t truly understand what my needs are.  Isn’t it wonderful that we have a God that has that covered for us?!? 

Submission and contentment. Lord, I don’t know what I need, whether it’s abundance or lack. But I will submit this to you! Help me be content whether i have much or have little. 

  • Hebrews 13:5 – “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
  • Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness recognize that God is the ultimate source of real righteousness, so they long for his righteous character to be evident. They shall be satisfied by responding to his invitation to be in a relationship with him.  This is REAL contentment!

 

Cultivating Biblical Contentment

  • Prayerfully cry out to the Lord, if you will, the same prayer that Agur states here in these verses!
  • Consider daily praying for the Lord to provide for your daily bread…and mean it no matter what comes your way…either poverty or riches!
  • Cultivate a gratitude for God’s provision, practice simplicity in lifestyle, and prioritize eternal treasures over earthly wealth.
  • Stave off the pervasive consumerist mindset and find satisfaction in God alone.

 

Stewardship Application – “Give me neither poverty nor riches”

Agur had it right, and in his prayerful cry to the Lord he longed that the Lord not “give me neither poverty nor riches.”  He did not want to dishonor the Lord’s name and he did not want to be self reliant!  

AGUR WANTED THE LORD!  

He wanted an intimate connection along with the Lord’s provision in his life! I must say that many people in their mind want the same, but sadly, not in their heart. They want more in life than to just be fully satisfied in Him.  Yes, they typically do not want poverty, but most that I know of, interacted with and even Pastored would not deny or shun the opportunity for “riches”.

So, where is YOUR HEART in this matter? Could you or would you pray this same prayer that Agur pleaded unto the Lord? “Give me neither poverty nor riches.”

Before you close out this episode, take a little time to talk to the Lord and let Him know what you are thinking about this prayer of Agur.

 

Next Steps

 

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