So...Thanks For Nothing

give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is needful for me,

9 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.

- Proverbs 30:8-9

I am absolutely blessed.  Blessed to live in a nation where I can worship my God freely.  I am blessed to have a job and a beautiful family and a roof over my head.  I have never experienced true hunger nor starvation.  This verse reminds me of a quote I heard from a fellow named Bartholomew Jojo Simpson aka Bart Simpson.  

“Dear Lord, we paid for all this food ourselves. So… Thanks for nothing”.

As a kid, I found this hilarious, but now as a more mature Christian, it’s actually quite heartbreaking because it’s so reflective of me or even my kids.  We may never actually utter the words, “Thanks for nothing”, but I know that I can often go about my day not thanking God, because “I did it all myself”. 

This verse is challenging us to not ask for poverty nor riches.  Poverty is an easy thing to not ask for, because who wants to not know when their next meal will be?  I don’t think the church, or at least the American Church, has a problem with that. To not ask for riches is not very natural though.   I, like most people I’m sure, have prayed for riches.  Yet, when I think about it, I am quite wealthy.  In debt, yes, but still quite wealthy.  My kids sometimes don’t appreciate the food on the table, and they don’t seem to get it when we say there are other kids who don’t get food for days.  I’m not that different from them.  I honestly don’t want to ask God for poverty, but I do pray that God gives me a grateful heart. 

The author of this Proverb, Agur, is praying for a circumstance that helps him remain grateful to God.  He’s not exactly looking for comfort, but his desire is to always be in a place where he must depend on God. Agur doesn’t want poverty, lest he steal and profane and the name of God, nor does he want riches, lest he say, “So… Thanks for nothing”.  

In a similar light, Paul was encouraging the Philippians.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I think for most of us we likely lie somewhere in the middle, right where Agur wanted to be.  My prayer is that we have an attitude like Paul to be content in plenty or in need. It is also my prayer for us to be like Agur, pray against the attitude of being arrogantly rich, and pray against an attitude of being begrudgingly poor.

- Zane