“Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 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.” ~Proverbs 30:8,9
This verse reminds me of the petition in the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:11, “Give us this day our daily bread.” The petition in Proverbs 30:8,9 is more like, “Lord, please give me just the right amount of daily bread. I am likely to sin if I have too little bread or too much bread.” If I have too little bread, or the good things of this life, I may be tempted to use unlawful means to seek to procure them. This would discredit my profession that I trust in God to provide for me. If I have an overabundance of bread, I may forget how dependent I truly am upon the Lord for life, breath, and all things. I may imagine that I do not need him, but that my own abilities and talents are sufficient.
When I ask the Lord to “feed me with food convenient for me,” I am asking two things:
- I am asking the Lord to give me enough of that which I need. We do have real needs, and we need real supplies. As an obvious example, we need nourishing food and clean water to live and be healthy. In this supplication, I am asking the Lord to take good care of me in providing me with these things, so that I may thrive.
- I am asking the Lord to decide what amount of this world’s good things is convenient, or good, for me particularly. I need not waste time wondering why I am not as prosperous as someone else. His or her state in life has nothing to do with the part the Lord has for me to play. We read in Matthew 25:15, “Unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability. .” I want the Lord to entrust to me only that amount of this world’s good things which will be for my good and His glory.
Yeah, me and Lyd were thinking about that verse a lot after we saw that documentary on Sonja Henie’s life… how she was never
truly happy even though she had SO much stuff… once she started getting, she was addicted, and she could never be satisfied,
no matter how much she had. In fact, she was really unhappy BECAUSE of her greed–her greed kept her from being able to truly
love anyone or or be loved, since she was always seeking her own good, not the other person’s. Anyways. Me and Lyd were just
talking about the depression of her whole situation, and how glad we were that we weren’t in a situation where becoming obsessed
with gain is a temptation.
I’m glad you and Lydia have been thinking about contentment, Kayla, and about being satisfied with what one has. I’m reminded of those Pastor Price sermons on Ecclesiastes where Solomon states that it is impossible to find satisfaction in even the best things in this life. It’s only as we are right with God, depend on Him, and love Him, that we can experience true contentment with our condition, whatever it might be.
Love, Mom
Yeah, me and T were talking about that just a while ago, like T said. Even though we do not have nearly as much as some people out in the world do, I think it is a lot better this way, because not only does it teach us to be humble, but it also teaches us to depend on the Lord to supply us with just the right amount. 🙂