“I’ve asked you for two things.
Don’t keep them from me before I die:
Keep vanity and lies far away from me.
Don’t give me either poverty or riches.
Feed me ⌜only⌟ the food I need,
or I may feel satisfied and deny you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
or I may become poor and steal
and give the name of my God a bad reputation.Proverbs 30:7-9 (GWT)
The above prayer was quoted to me by a well meaning missionary’s wife many years ago. She told me she was praying for not too much and not too little. Immediately I had a check in my spirit and thought, what a stupid prayer. Too much or too little is all relative. For me, for example, having 100 people at our church is too little (or in proper English, too few) as a pastor. I believe God wants our family to have more influence. For another Pastor or minister 30 people may be too many (or too much). It’s all relative, that’s why I called it a stupid prayer.
After she said this to me, of course I also had to look the Bible verse up in context. We know Proverbs are mostly the wisdom of Solomon, however I noticed chapter 30 was not written by him by someone named Agur.
Then I looked at how Agur described himself in context.
The words of Agur, son of Jakeh. Agur’s prophetic revelation.
Agur Speaks about God
[To God]
This man’s declaration:
“I’m weary, O God.
I’m weary and worn out, O God.
I’m more ⌜like⌟ a dumb animal than a human being.
I don’t ⌜even⌟ have human understanding.
I haven’t learned wisdom.
I don’t have knowledge of the Holy One.
Now, the writer says himself that he has no understanding and even refers to himself as stupid.Proverbs 30:1-3 (GWT)
So that begs the question. Why would anyone want to pray such a stupid prayer about asking God not to give them too much? I think only religious people can swallow that silly line.
Yes, it is possible to pray a stupid and meanness prayer. However, that is not Gods plan. He wants us to pray with power so the place shakes!
I hate religion. It’s illogical and binds people up. I love Jesus. He’s logical and sets people free to achieve whatever they can conceive by faith!