ODJ: just enough

November 27, 2013 

READ: Proverbs 30:7-9 

Give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs (v.8).

In the film Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye talked very honestly with God about His economics: “You made many, many poor people. I realise, of course, that it’s no shame to be poor. But it’s no great honour either! So what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune? . . . Lord, who made the lion and the lamb, you decreed I should be what I am. Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan if I were a wealthy man?”

Many centuries before Sholem Aleichem’s writings served as inspiration for the honest words of Tevye’s tongue, a man named Agur prayed an equally honest but somewhat different prayer to God regarding His economics. He said, “Give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs” (Proverbs 30:8). He recognised God as his sole provider and asked Him for “just enough” to satisfy his daily needs.

He didn’t ask for overflowing prosperity, because he knew it had the potential to make him proud and to cause him to become a practical atheist by denying the character of God. He wrote, “If I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name” (v.9). Recognising his limitations and possessing great self-awareness, Agur asked God to keep him from dishonouring His name by turning to a life of thievery. His prayer reveals a heart that pursues God and seeks contentment in Him alone.

May we live out the same attitude: (1) recognise God as our sole provider of all we have; (2) pursue God and a financial path that honours His name; (3) live in contentment before Him, accepting with gratitude the daily—“just enough”—bread He provides.

Let’s find our contentment and pleasure in the God who’s more than enough. — Marvin Williams