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Introduction
The following are a series of
thoughts based on the writings of I
do not know. I found them amidst my
papers.
Several years ago the “Prayer of
Agur” became a real hit among many
believers. Indeed, at times it
almost seemed like a “lucky charm”
or “Mantra” which, if repeated,
would bring blessing. When Agur
made this prayer it was the words of
a very devout individual
acknowledging his need of wisdom and
his general weakness before God.
Wisdom in and of itself is a leaven
which the Holy Spirit, through Paul,
informs us that it “puffs up” (1 Cor
8:1), that is, makes the individual
think they know a great deal. They
may indeed know a great deal when it
comes to earthly things but compared
to the Almighty, men know virtually
nothing. Solomon saw this and
wrote, “The sluggard is wiser in his
own conceit than seven men that can
render a reason” (Prov. 26:16).
When a man recognizes his own lack
of wisdom and understanding then he
will depend on the Lord for
enlightenment. Reality is, man
never discovers anything, it is
simply that God enlightened the
individual to matters which had not
been seen before.
In reading this prayer I am reminded
of a student in a theology class
which, when finishing his thesis,
wrote in Greek, “For the glory of
God”. That is the fundamental
desire of Agur, that his life would
be for the glory of God. In
learning and seeking to live this
ideal, Agur’s thoughts were focused
on the following:
Infiniteness of The Greatness of God
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Agur begins with an
acknowledgement of his own
understanding before God and
confessing, “Surely I am
more brutish than any man,
and have not the
understanding of a man. I
neither learned wisdom, nor
have the knowledge of the
holy” (Prov. 30:2-3). It is
a matter of self awareness
that I find more and more
the need for due reverence
when speaking to God. He is
not the “man upstairs” or as
I heard the other week,
“Dear daddy”. He is the
Almighty and in my ignorance
I do not really know how to
speak to Him. It is a
blessing from God that we
have a High Priest who takes
our worship, prayers etc.
and is fully able to present
them perfectly before God. |
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a) |
The Queen of Sheba was
amazed when she saw how the
great King Solomon went up
to the house of the Lord (1
Kgs. 10:5). |
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b) |
When the people were
gathered at Sinai they stood
afar off (Ex. 20:18, 21). |
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c) |
Moses and the elders were to
worship “afar off” (Ex.
24:1). |
Coming to pray to God or commune
with Him it is good to remember the
words of the ancient king who wrote:
“Be not rash with thy mouth, and let
not thine heart be hasty to utter
any thing before God: for God is in
heaven, and thou upon earth:
therefore let thy words be few” (Ecc.
5:2). God is beyond our
comprehension and worthy to be
glorified while there is breath in
our bodies.
There is brought to our attention
the incomprehensible abilities of
the God to whom we are speaking. It
is a series of rhetorical
questions. He asks, “Who”, “Who”,
“Who”, “Who”, “What” and finished
with the challenge, “If thou canst
tell?” (Prov. 30:4). Some think
that we can tell God what we want
done and expect Him to obey us.
Naming it and claiming it without
the contextual word of God is the
tool of the devil for when the Lord
was being tempted, Satan used the
scriptures ignoring the context to
tempt the Lord to “cast himself
down” (Matt. 4:6). It was a
temptation of presumptuousness and
such is the “name it and claim it”
religion. God is not there to serve
us and respond according to our
whims and wants. In recognizing who
and what He is, never under any
circumstances must we seek to
advise, question or debate what He
says. We must never instruct him on
how to do things. He is God,
“possessor of heaven and earth”
(Gen. 14:19) and He will do as He in
wisdom and holiness decrees what to
do. “Thine, O LORD, is the
greatness, and the power, and the
glory, and the victory, and the
majesty: for all that is in the
heaven and in the earth is thine;
thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and
thou art exalted as head above all”
(1 Chron. 29:11).
We do know that, “If we ask any
thing according to His will, he
heareth us: And if we know that He
hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know
that we have the petitions that we
desired of him” (1 Jn. 5:14-15).
Knowing that the mind and ways of
God are high above ours (Isa.
55:8-9), it is with deep reverence
we ought to approach God. Agur then
considers the Word of God.
Every Word of God Is Pure
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Not only is the word of God
pure, His statutes are right
and His commandment is pure
(Psa. 19:8). This indicates
the integrity of the
scriptures. To this we add: |
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a) |
The sufficiency of the
Scriptures (1 Tim. 3:16) |
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b) |
The fidelity of the
Scriptures (Dan. 10:12) |
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c) |
The finality of the
Scriptures (Rom. 4:1-13) |
Because the scriptures are the
inspired word of the Living God
and
in having them written, we can trust
that word with absolute confidence.
Observe, up to this point he has not
yet made a petition. He is fixing
his gaze on the undisturbed wonder
of God and in that background he
makes his petition.
Makes His Petition
It would appear that Agur was an
elderly gentleman looking back over
life but seeking the blessing of God
for just a little longer. It is not
a passive casual petition but an
earnest God fearing plea. Recently
there was report on the things
people had wished they had done as
they looked back on life. Among
them were, I wish I’d had the
courage to just be myself; had spent
more time with the people I love;
made spirituality more of a
priority; loved more; taken better
care of myself; thought about life’s
bigger question earlier. These are
all very good and noble. Agur asks
for two things, “Remove far from me
vanity and lies; give me neither
poverty nor riches” (Prov. 30:7-9).
Then we come to the great aim of his
life, that he will not take the name
of God in vain (Prov. 30:9).
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1) |
In the life of a christian
there are four aspects: that
which God has done, is
doing, and will do for us
despite ourselves, and that
which He expects us to work
with Him. It is hypocrisy
to ask God to remove from me
vanity and lies if we have
no intention in ourselves by
the power of the Holy Spirit
to not do these things. I
remember my old grandpa
Milne. He got saved in
middle age and had a
dreadful problem with
smoking a pipe. He had a
real conscience about it and
prayed the Lord would take
it from him, but he kept the
pipes and the tobacco. It
was a contradiction in
activity. Then one day he
was asking the Lord for
power to overcome it and the
Spirit reminded him that God
had already done it but
Grandpa had not availed
himself of the power
available. At that moment
he got up from his knees,
took the pipe and the
tobacco and threw them both
in the fire. That was the
end of the smoking. He
worked with God.
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2) |
Many years ago the “Rolling
Stones” sang a song with
words similar to, “Ain’t got
no satisfaction”. They had
come to the same conclusion
as the writer of
Ecclesiastes for he tried
everything this world could
offer, yet his constant
refrain would be, “Vanity of
vanities; all is vanity” (Ecc.
1:2; 12:8); “All is vanity
and vexation of spirit” (Ecc.
1:14; 2:17); “All is vanity”
(Ecc. 1:2; 3:19; 12:8).
Putting it in modern
terminology he was saying,
“all is empty, it does not
satisfy and makes one
discontented”. Paul wrote,
“Godliness with contentment
is great gain” (1 Tim.
6:6). The Psalmist wrote,
“The blessing of the Lord,
it maketh rich, and he
addeth no sorrow with it” (Prov.
10:22). We live in a world
of emptiness where nothing
it offers gives permanent
contentment. A new car is
bought, a new house, how
wonderful it is and then
shortly afterwards it wears
off and we look for
something else. How true
are the words of scripture,
“The world passeth away, and
the lust thereof" (1 Jn.
2:17). This is the reason
the inspired apostle wrote,
“Love not the world, neither
the things that are in the
world” (1 Jn. 2:15).
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3) |
“Give me neither poverty nor
riches; feed me with food
convenient for me” (Prov.
30:8). Poverty in the
economy of God is a
blessing. It was something
Job learned and it marked
the life of our Lord (2 Cor.
8:9). However, a wise person
will seek to avoid poverty
by using that which they
have carefully. At times
due to circumstances, folk
can become poor, not through
carelessness but
happenstance. I recall when
we did not have a bed to lie
on and had folks not loaned
us sleeping bags, we would
have slept on the floor. It
was hard but a good lesson
for afterward we appreciated
every thing we got and
have. Was there a danger of
stealing to get food? Of
course there was. This is
what Agur did not want, to
be so destitute that he
would steal and take the
name of the Lord in vain.
Not only did it make us
thankful but cultivated a
tender heart toward others
in need. “Having food and
raiment let us be therewith
content” (1 Tim. 6:8).
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4) |
If we are going to live a
life for the glory of God
then we must learn to trust
Him. God loves to be
trusted. This is a
characteristic of the life
of our Lord. As a baby it
could be said prophetically
of Him, “ Thou art my God
from my mother’s belly” (Psa.
22:10); “Thou didst make me
hope when I was upon my
mother’s breasts” (Psa.
22:9); and when hanging on
the cross, the people
knowing his character said,
“He trusted in God” (Matt.
27:43).
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5) |
Being wealthy is not a sin.
Many are the saints who have
used their wealth for the
furtherance of the gospel
and helping those in need.
However, it can also be
sadly used as when the Lord
has blessed a saint with
ample to leave it to ungodly
family members who waste it
in the pursuit of sinfulness
and the ignoring of God.
What we have is not our own
to distribute or “will” as
we see fit or the world
expects, for since it is not
ours but the Lord’s, each
will have to give an account
of what they did with that
which was given to them. |
Concluding Thoughts
May the spirit of God help us to see
the wisdom of Agur and have a like
passion as he had and for the same
purpose.
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