THE LONGING OF THE WISE
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 20, 2022 under 2022 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday message; February 20, 2022 from Proverbs 30:7-9
Theme: A wise person longs for a life of integrity and sufficiency in order to live to God’s glory.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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If God were to offer to give you anything that you asked Him for—anything at all—what would your request be?
Now; you might remember that there was someone in the Bible who was once given that offer. God had made it to King Solomon. Solomon didn’t ask—as some other king might have asked—for a long life for himself, or for riches, or for the death of his enemies. Instead, he asked that God would give him an understanding heart in order to be able to serve God’s people;
“… that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” (1 Kings 3:9).
And you’ll remember that God was very pleased with this request. Solomon didn’t place his own personal interests at the center of his request. Instead, he prioritized the interests of God—how the position that God had placed him in could be managed honorably and wisely, and how God’s people could be ruled justly and to His glory. And, because Solomon had placed God’s concerns first, God not only gave him what he asked for, but also blessed him in the ways that he had not asked—giving him greater riches and honor than any other king on earth.
If God were to ask us what it is we would desire from Him, it obviously wouldn’t be the kind of thing to answer hastily or impulsively. It would be the kind of thing that we’d want to give great thought to; because whatever it was that we asked for would reveal what was most important to us. Would our focus be upon our own self-interests? Or would it be upon God’s glory? What we asked for would reveal the true orientation of our heart before God.
In Proverbs 30:7-9, we find a prayer of a very wise and reverent man named Agur. Whether or not he received a similar offer from God as had been given to Solomon, we’re not told. But in his prayer, he asked something from God that exhibited the true focus of his heart:
Two things I request of You
(Deprive me not before I die):
Remove falsehood and lies far from me;
Give me neither poverty nor riches—
Feed me with the food allotted to 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 (vv. 7-9).
In asking these two things, Agur made it clear that his chief desire was not for selfish things. In fact, in this remarkable prayer, Agur seems to go so far as to ask that he not be given certain things that others might have asked for themselves. Instead, his chief desire was that God would so superintend his life that he would not dishonor Him; but that he would instead live his life to the honor and glory of God Himself.
The particular situation of Agur’s life may not necessarily be the same as ours. But his prayer is certainly a kind of prayer that we can adopt as our own. And more specifically, the chief motivation of his prayer is one that we should adopt as the expression of our own hearts. His prayer teaches us that a truly wise person longs for a life of integrity and sufficiency in order to live to God’s glory.
If we sincerely pray to that end, then we will be very glad on the day of judgment that our prayer was answered.
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Now; I have been saying that the words of Agur were the words of a truly wise person. And I believe that Agur was a very wise man. But he didn’t present himself to us in that way. As we saw a few weeks ago, he introduced himself to us in verses 2-3 with these words:
Surely I am more stupid than any man,
And do not have the understanding of a man.
I neither learned wisdom
Nor have knowledge of the Holy One (vv. 2-3).
Agur didn’t consider himself to be ‘above average’ in intelligence. He didn’t consider himself to have been well-schooled in philosophy or theology. He was a man who had been created in God’s image; but he didn’t even feel that he possessed the wisdom that measured up to that image. It may have been that Agur was very bright in a lot of ways. But when it came to the truly important concerns of life—who God is and how best to live for Him—he felt stupid. This means that Agur’s words were the words of a humble man who knew that he didn’t know what he needed to know.
And that makes the nature of this particular passage very important to notice. Out of all the other words of Agur that we find in Proverbs 30—out of all the observations of life that he makes, or all the admonitions that he puts forth—these words alone constitute a prayer. It’s the only prayer in the whole chapter. He didn’t have it within himself to know how best to live for God or to bring honor to Him. He was completely dependent upon God to show him. And so, he prayed and asked God to show mercy to him and to help him. In that respect, his prayer is like the prayer of the prophet Jeremiah; who said,
O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
O Lord, correct me, but with justice;
Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing (Jeremiah 10:23-24).
It’s the truly wise person who desires to live his or her life to the glory of God. But such a wise person will also immediately recognize that it’s not within himself or herself to be able to fulfill that desire. Left up to ourselves, even the best of us couldn’t do anything but sin. We are utterly dependent creatures; and it can only be by God’s enabling grace and merciful guidance that any fallen human being such as ourselves could live to His honor and glory. Through Jesus Christ, God has provided the full forgiveness of all our sins; and through the indwelling Holy Spirit, God enables the believer in Jesus to live to His glory. There is no other way but by God’s grace; because it just isn’t in us to do live to the glory of God in our own strength and power.
That’s why Agur prayed to God and asked for the two things that we find in this passage. And we, like Agur, must also depend on God and ask His help. Only then can we live to His glory.
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So; with that in mind, let’s look more closely at this remarkable prayer of Agur. Notice first …
1. THE EARNESTNESS OF HIS LONGING.
In verse 7, he prayed, “Two things I request of You …” And it’s clear that the Person to whom he speaks is God; because he asks for things that only God can do for him. And do you notice that he asks for just “two things”? That is a very specific and limited number of things to ask of God. And that suggests to us that Agur had put some careful thought into this prayer before he prayed it.
What a great lesson that is! Let’s face it. Sometimes we come to God with some very half-baked and poorly thought-out prayers; don’t we? We don’t take the time to think clearly about what it is that we want from God—or even whether or not they are the right things to be asking in the first place. And yet, as followers of Jesus, we’re told in 1 John 5:14-15;
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him (1 John 5:14-15).
It must be “according to His will”. As believers, it’s our great privilege to pray “in Jesus’ name”; that is, to pray to the Father as representatives of the desire of His Son. But it’s only if we ask according to Jesus’ will—according to what our Lord and Master would desire us to ask, and that He Himself would ask—that we can have the confidence that we are heard and are given what we pray for. That means that, in praying, we need to think carefully and ask, “What would my Lord and Master Jesus Christ desire? What would He ask for?” Obviously, we need to get to know our Lord Jesus very well; don’t we? May God help us—through the indwelling Holy Spirit and through the study of the Scriptures—get to know Jesus better so that we can ask the Father for what He would want us to ask.
Agur—in his time, and with his limited Old Testament knowledge—offered a careful, well-thought-out prayer that specified two things that focused on God’s glory. They were things that God would be pleased to answer, because they were in accord with His own will. And notice the earnestness with which Agur asked. Verse 7 says, “Deprive me not before I die …” This could mean that Agur would never be satisfied unless these things were given to him—as if he’d ‘just die’ unless they were granted to him. And that’s certainly possible. In that case, he would have been a lot like Jacob; who wrestled all night with God and said that he wouldn’t let Him go until He blessed him. We certainly should pray with that kind of earnestness.
But I rather think instead that Agur was looking at the course of his life; and had perhaps numbered his days, and knew that it wouldn’t be long before he would be called to leave this world and stand before God. Did he feel that he had failed to live his life to the glory and honor of God? Had he allowed himself to be influenced too much by the values and priorities of this world? Had he been self-indulgent and self-deceiving? Had he squandered the opportunities that God had given him? And now—as he looked ahead and saw that he would soon be called upon to give an accounting—did he realize that he had only a little time left? Perhaps he was saying, “O, Lord; my time is short! Much of my time is spent and gone! I know my weaknesses and frailties! I want very much to be able to stand before you and give an accounting for my life in a way that pleases you. I cannot do so in my own strength. Please hear my prayer! Grant these two, very important, very strategic things to me … and do so for me now; before I die!”
I confess that I have been thinking that way increasingly about my own life. I sometimes picture my life as an eight-slice pizza—with more than six of the slices already eaten and gone. Soon I’ll be nibbling on the last slice. It won’t be long before I must stand before my Lord. I want to live my remaining days to His glory. Don’t you want that too, dear brothers and sisters? Wherever we may be in the duration of our life, may God give us a longing to live for His glory and honor that is as earnest and passionate as that of this man Agur!
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So then, that’s the earnestness with which Agur prayed. Now notice …
2. THE NATURE OF HIS REQUESTS.
At the beginning of verse 8, he puts his two requests before God: “Remove falsehood and lies far from me”; and, “Give me neither poverty nor riches— “ And I believe you can summarize these two requests as a prayer for integrity of character and for sufficiency of circumstances.
Think first of his prayer for integrity of character. First, he asked that God remove falsehood far from him. The New American Standard translation has it as “deception”. In the original language, the word means “emptiness”; and it speaks of anything that is void of truth. It’s probably very significant that he asks for this right after what he says in verses 5-6;
Every word of God is pure;
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
Do not add to His words,
Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar (Proverbs 30:5-6).
God’s revealed word is where we go for the truth. Anything that is contrary to His word, or that dismisses it, or that denies it, or that changes it, or that leaves any part of it out, would be “falsehood” or “emptiness” or “deception”. Agur wanted such falsehood to be kept far from him.
Also he asked that God remove lies far from him. It could be that what he meant was that he not only wanted anything to be kept far from him that was ‘empty’ and ‘void of the truth’ in a passive way; but also anything that was an outright, deliberate misrepresentation or intentional deception in an active way. In this world, we are exposed to the manipulative influences of both passive and active lies—and because of the rise of social and various other forms of media, we are bombarded by them more today than at any time in history. How could we escape it all but by the grace of God?—the God of truth?
But it may not be that Agur intended this to refer only to falsehood and lies coming from the outside. Perhaps, because he knew the sinful potential of his own fallen human heart, he was also asking God to remove the falsehood and lies that sprang forth from his own sinful being. Dear brothers and sisters; if we’re open and honest about it, aren’t there a multitude of ways that we deceive and lie to ourselves and to others? Aren’t we in constant need of repenting and obeying the command to ‘put away lying’ and ‘speak truth to one another’ (Ephesians 4:25)?
One Bible teacher made a very good point about this first request. It may be that it was put first in the order of these two requests because Agur knew it was the most strategic and important of the two. How can we approach the God of truth and ask Him to help us live for His glory unless there is ‘truth in our inward parts’? May God help us to ask that He put falsehood and lies far from us—and that He do so ongoingly—and that He do it in order to bring about His glory in our lives!
And then, think of the second thing Agur mentions; and that is the desire for sufficiency of circumstances. He prays, “Give me neither poverty nor riches— “ He desired the perfect medium between the two. Who but a truly wise man would ask for that?
Now; it’s clear that Agur is not asking that he be given nothing at all. He goes on to expand on this request by saying, “Feed me with the food allotted to me …” And in saying this, he is recognizing that God had given him a particular lot in life; and that as his Provider, God knew perfectly well what he needed. He was trusting God to give him only what is needed to fulfill God’s will in his particular in of life—whether it required more at one time or less at another. It may be that Agur had a wife and a family with children, and perhaps was responsible for an entire household; and so, he trusted God that his allotment would be sufficient to provide for all under his care. Or it may be that Agur was alone and was only responsible for himself; and so, he trusted God that his allotment would be sufficient for him alone. He was praying as Jesus would later teach us to pray; “Give us this day our daily bread”.
What a great and wise thing to pray! When I think of this, I remember the words that the apostle Paul wrote at the end of 1 Timothy. He told Pastor Timothy;
Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:6-10).
And then, Paul added this personal word to Timothy;
But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness (v. 11).
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So; to pray “Remove falsehood and lies far from me”; and, “Give me neither poverty nor riches”—these were wise and strategic things to ask of God. They were the desires of someone who knew his weaknesses and who needed God’s help. They were wise requests!
And finally, note …
3. THE MOTIVATION OF HIS HEART.
Why would Agur ask such things? What was his motivation? It was so that—in the end—his life would bring glory to God. You might say that he put forth this positive request in verse 9 by stating it in terms of a couple of things that he didn’t want to have happen.
When it came to his request that God not give him ‘riches’, he said, “Lest I be full and deny You, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’” (v. 9a). This has often led me to think that one of the most destructive things that could ever happen to some Christians—not all, of course; but some—would be that they became financially rich and prosperous. Most of us cannot handle wealth without it damaging our dependence upon God. We would end up ignoring Him, and not turning to Him anymore for our needs, and even eventually forgetting Him altogether. Think of that man that Jesus told us about—the one who prospered, and built new barns to hold all his wealth, and said to his soul, “Take your ease! Eat, drink, and be merry!”; not realizing that his soul would be required of him that very night!
Dear brother or sister in Christ; have you ever considered that if you don’t have great wealth, it may be because God loves you too much to let you have it? He doesn’t want to lose your affection and your dependency upon Him. He wants you to live for His glory, so that you will receive eternal riches! That was something that wise Agur understood and asked for.
And notice that, when it came to his request that God not give him ‘poverty’, he said, “Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God.” Many professing followers of Jesus have been spared by God from too much poverty because that also would be destructive to their soul. Some can become so overcome by their pressing need that they too forget God. They end up not trusting Him, or not obeying Him, or even resorting to falsehoods and lies and deceits and sinful acts in order to get what they think they need.
The apostle Paul was a man who seemed—by God’s grace—to live to the glory of God within both extremes. He had been in prison for preaching the gospel; and he was often in great need. And he wrote a letter to the Christians in Philippi because they had sent a financial gift for his support. He was very grateful and told them;
But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need (Philippians 4:10-12).
Paul had learned the secret of living within those two extremes—whenever God allowed either prosperity or need to come into his life. And what was his secret? He shared it with us when he said in verses 13;
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (v. 13).
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Dear brothers and sisters; I believe that this man Agur gives us a great example to follow in this prayer. But we should be careful with it. As I suggested earlier, it may not necessarily be that God intends for you and me to pray for exactly the same things that Agur prayed for. It may be that the things he prayed for were particular to him—and that they dealt with the unique temptations in life that he felt—and that he needed God’s help in these particular ways in order to be able to live to God’s glory. Those particular things may be different in our own lives. But I believe that, like him, we should long for and pray earnestly for God’s glory in our lives.
So; if God were to offer to you to give you whatever you asked, what would you ask for? Would it be that you could fulfill your own desires? Or would it be that God would grant that certain destructive habits and practices and sins would be put far from your life? Would it be that God would providentially keep certain things in balance in your life so that you could avoid any sinful extremes? Would it be that you would live the rest of your days on this earth to God’s glory; so that on the day of His return, the Lord Jesus would look upon you with love and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”? Would you ask for these sorts of things—and ask them with earnest desire and sincere longing before God?
May God help us to pray a wise prayer like this man Agur prayed—for true integrity of character and sufficiency of circumstances—so that we may give Him glory through our Savior Jesus Christ now and forever. That would be the kind of prayer that God would delight to answer.
AE
