A Proverbs 30 Man

 

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh contain this message.  I am weary, O God; I am weary and worn out, O God.  I am too stupid to be human, and I lack common sense.  I have not mastered human wisdom, nor do I know the Holy One.  Who but God goes up to heaven and comes back down?  Who holds the wind in his fists?  Who wraps up the oceans in his cloak?  Who has created the whole wide world?  What is his name—and his son’s name?  Tell me if you know!  Every word of God proves true.  He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.  Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.  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 30:1-9

Funerals teach a lot to ministers.  For some reason, the first one I preached for a woman intimidated me.  So I asked my mentor, a retired minister, for advice on which Scriptures to use, and how to approach the service.  He steered me to Proverbs 31, and the attributes of a wise, industrious, loving woman of her time.  That service message was entitled A Proverbs 31 Kind of Woman.

I’m sure I’ve read the preceding chapter (30) written by Agur, a man who calls himself too stupid to be a human.  But truth be told, I never got the message.  (Perhaps I’m related to the author). 

The message of a Proverbs 30 man is an honest, humble assessment of humanity’s wisdom held up against the backdrop of God’s wisdom.  A person who is not too stupid to be a human immediately recognizes there isn’t much competition in that beauty pageant.  I would suppose Agur is being humble to a fault, but he admits to not having mastered human wisdom  Being aware of man’s foolishness, compared to the majesty of JHWH, is the sum of human wisdom.

Agur then offers a prayer request to the LORD, one which I hadn’t considered in a long time.  He asks two distinctly related blessings that dovetail into one spiritually-wise life principle.  First, he asks that God grant him the moral courage to be truthful.  Second, Agur displays that God is already answering the first request by praying that God not grant him riches or poverty, but rather for material needs to be met so they can fade into the background.  Agur asks for the middle ground.  He’s admitting riches or poverty can shake his relationship with God.  That avoids the lie to which most of us give-in.

Riches tend to give humans a sense of self-sufficiency; who needs God when you’ve got the world by the tail?  Just ask Solomon, or any other rich guy.  On the other hand, ask any poor man if he’s ever been tempted to steal.  If he’s as honest as Agur, he’ll have to say “yup”!

Agur’s wisdom is on display.  He knows riches and poverty are traps that, when sprung, reveal just how imprisoned and estranged a man can be from God.  The proof of this is the character and integrity of God, the Creator, Who is rich beyond our dreams (and even Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, or Donald Trump).  Yet God became poor for our sake[1] on a cross, that we might have access to His riches.

So, the Proverb writer takes a pass on riches, because he doesn’t want to become arrogant, and asks that the temptation inherent in poverty be removed so he won’t insult God’s name by stealing.  This lines up dead-level with the first point of his two-pronged prayer, that God grant Agur truthfulness.  Rejecting the lure of material blessings is a statement of truth about knowing one’s own weakness.  Agur is not only truthful, he is also wise enough to know himself.  This is a Proverbs 30 kind of man worth emulating.

For You Today

Hang a picture of Agur in your brain’s living room.  The next time you turn on the TV and hear a prosperity message from Hollywood or Lakewood, remember Agur’s wisdom…and change channels.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

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[1] See 2 Corinthians 8:9

Grace That Leads to Joy - Part 1

[1]

Monday, May 30, 2016

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.  Philippians 4:23^(NLT)

This week we are going to investigate the joy Paul described to the Philippian church, the kind of joy that only the grace of God can bring.  All throughout this letter to the Philippian church Paul's theme has been joy. 

Indeed, rejoicing was his life. 

But sometimes tragedy will test even the strongest faith.

A number of years ago I stood with Ricky’s family, a 22 year-old boy, who had been killed in a freak accident, when another vehicle locked bumpers trying to pass him.  It flipped Ricky’s car off the road and he died instantly. 

Looking into the casket; it was hard to imagine joy. 

His mother and Dad shared with me their son's great plans for the future:  Master's degree, advancement, family, and his love for the Lord; it was an incredible tragedy how his life had been snuffed out. 

His parents told me how Ricky worked hard every day, never late; how he went to school nights, and how hard he studied.  It was hard to conjure-up joy amidst all the stock phrases people nervously utter at such times; words won't do! 

There was lots of hugging and remembering at the funeral home.  But I knew that would pass.  In the morning there would be a funeral service, and soon we would be at the cemetery, ready to lower a young man into a grave, when he hadn't even begun to live. 

Joy was AWOL! 

And so I asked the Lord to speak to my heart, so I could speak to this broken-hearted family.  Often I'm a poor listener, so the Lord waited until I walked out on the platform for the service.  It was the faces of the young people; most of whom I'd never seen before.  The faces were streaming with tears, disbelief and stunned silence.  The faces were grieving as those with no hope. 

The Lord then spoke to my heart and the one-sided conversation went thus:

            Russell, among those young people are those who have left me out.

A few have never even heard the gospel. 

Tell them I love them.

What a privilege!  I not only rediscovered joy – I was downright happy!  This gave meaning to Ricky's death.  His friends were sitting there, wishing for some kind of meaning – any kind of sense in the madness and chaos of losing their friend.  They were facing the reality that if it could happen to Ricky, so young, strong, bright and alive – well it could happen to anyone! 

And their attention was focused toward the pulpit, God's sacred desk.  It was the grace of God that spoke to my heart telling me to tell them; it was the grace of God that covered that building with joy that day in the face of tragedy.

Awesome responsibility...Incredible joy!

For You Today

Have you ever felt joy in the midst of a terrible loss?  In this same letter to the church, Paul called it the peace that passes understanding; you can’t possibly explain it, but you sure know it’s there!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: By Meghana Kulkarni from Pune, India (Happiness), via Wikimedia Commons