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^©

---

[1] See 2 Corinthians 8:9

A Special Gift

[1]

Monday, April 25, 2016

Go to VIDEO

However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ…Ephesians 4:7^(NLT)

Sometimes we imagine [we know exactly what wisdom and maturity look like; especially those of IUS who are on the "seasoned" side (AARP-eligible).

Sometimes we merely have managed to live a lot of years without learning that wisdom and maturity don't always go together.

Pat Giffin, my friend and mentor was a great pastor, mature and wise.  When I first met him in Gainesville, Florida in 1983, we became fast friends.  When he retired he joined our church, and, while technically I was his pastor - in reality it often worked the other way around.  I’m glad it was that way, because I benefitted immensely from his wealth of understanding of how to be a pastor.

For instance, Pat told me about a young girl who lived at Sunland Training Center who, along with several others suffering from mental challenges, came to his church every Sunday.  She often begged him to let her play the organ.  She had no musical training whatsoever, but she had an intense desire to contribute.  Pat always changed the subject when she asked, because he had found out she got quite hostile when disappointed.

Finally one Wednesday evening, the pianist and organist were both no-shows, so when the young girl pleaded with Pastor Pat, he knew this was an opportunity to let her try; it was a small crowd on a rainy evening 

From the first note it sounded as if a professional organist had arrived.  The congregation - particularly Pastor Pat – was surprised and mesmerized by the young girl's ability; her playing was as if she'd been around the keyboard all her life.

Several weeks later, while dropping her off after a Sunday service, the girl's case worker asked Pat what they were doing in working with this girl; she had ceased being difficult at the training center. In fact she had become among the most cooperative of all the residents.  Pat responded,  weII, we haven't done anything to her, but she sure has done something for us!

By telling that girl's story my mentor taught me that conventional maturity and wisdom are different than what you'll find in the body of Christ.  When the Spirit of God places a gift in one of His children, that gift will have the unmistakable stamp of God-quality, which is far above human ability!

For You Today

There are gifts God has given to his children that sit all around you in the pews every Sunday.  And often you meet many more in the daily routines of your life. 

Are you hearing God's music?

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

---

[1] Title Image:   By Willuconquer (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

The Last Great Race on Earth

[1]   

Thursday, March 19, 2015

 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:14 (NLT)

There was a story in yesterday’s New York Times about the Iditarod, that 1,000-mile dogsled “mush” across Alaska; it is billed as The Last Great Race on Earth[2] because of the challenging and often brutal weather conditions.  It is not an adventure for the faint of heart!

And neither is following Jesus Christ if you seriously intend to finish the race.

In writing to the church at Philippi the apostle Paul used the imagery of running the race as a metaphor for the life in Christ.  Unlike most “races” where there is only one winner, the course for believers is a lifetime event where all who believe may “win”.  It is somewhat like the Iditarod in that respect; many start but not all finish.  Some drop out when the mushing gets dicey!  And that is sad for the church and the Kingdom of God.

Did you notice how Paul detailed his goal?  First and pre-eminently Paul wanted to press on to reach the end of the race….  For Paul that meant planting churches, encouraging the churches he’d started, and giving his life’s wisdom and purpose into the lives of young church leaders like Timothy, so they would be equipped to carry on the work.

As a young pastor I had some “Pauls” in my life.  One of them was a member of my first church after seminary.  Pat was a retired minister with knowledge of God and a passion for people – particularly young pastors. 

He also had a great sense of humor. 

Whenever I preached what he and I both knew was a “less than Sermon-on-the-Mount” kind of sermon, my dear friend would come alongside me, place his hand on my shoulder, and whisper out of the side of his mouth, “something stinks in here”.  Pat could help me be a little less serious about myself, which always helped me be in better focus and balance as a person and as a preacher. 

When I preached Pat’s funeral we carried him around the little lake to the church graveyard, and when we were all in place there was one flash of lightning and a crack of thunder, followed by the worst “frog-strangling” downpour we’d seen in five years.  I knew as we ran for cover Pat didn’t want any more “stinkers” – especially over his tombstone. 

Still makes me smile.

And that is part of this Iditarod of a Christ-follower’s race.  It’s much longer than a thousand miles; this race reaches from cradle to grave, through time and space, all the way to eternity.

For each of us it is literally the last great race on earth.

And we need all the “Pats” who will come alongside us in the long, icy, hard trails across our pilgrim pathway. 

For You Today

Maybe you’ve got a “Pat” in your life.  That’s great!

Now, isn’t it time for you to be a “Pat” in somebody else’s life?

---

[1] Title Image: By Frank Kovalchek from USA, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] ^©New York Times, Enduring the Iditarod as Equals Katie Orlinsky, March 13, 2015