Wealth

 This week's verses are Proverbs 30:7-9:

Two things I have asked from you;
do not refuse me before I die:
Remove falsehood and lies far from me;
do not give me poverty or riches,
feed me with my allotted portion of bread,
lest I become satisfied and act deceptively
and say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or lest I become poor and steal
and demean the name of my God.

I read these verses and thought to myself, "How many people pray like this?" A lot of people pray that they would not become poor, but I don't know of anyone who prays that they would not become rich.

And of the people who pray that they would not be poor, most of the time it's so that they would have an easier life. But the author of these proverbs prays it so that he wouldn't demean the name of his God by making bad decisions in his desperation. Poverty puts people in a situation where they are sometimes asked to choose between only bad alternatives.

He uses the same justification for not wanting to be rich. Riches put people in situations where they don't feel God has anything tangible to offer them. Their wealth can buy comforts and pleasures, open doors, create relationships, pay for experimental new medical treatments, and so on. The illusion of sovereignty creeps in slowly until God has been completely removed from their life.

Ideally, according to the Psalmist, we would neither be rich nor poor. We would be able to afford our day to day, but we would still need to rely on God for things often enough that he stays in our mind. But how do we live like that?

We should look at our money and how we use it. Are we spending too little on others and keeping it all for ourselves? Are we spending it on the wrong things so we don't have it when we need it? Are we so comfortable that we don't leave any room for God to make himself visible in providing for our needs? Are things so tight that we feel we could justify any compromise if it gets us some relief?

Meet with God and talk about his provision. Talk to him if you feel like you may be too rich or too poor.