Proverbs 30:7-9: A Prayer Paradigm

Two things I ask of you;

deny them not to me before I die:

Remove far from me falsehood and lying;

give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is needful for me,

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 30:7-9

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of sermons on the Lord's Prayer. It's truly a fascinating topic, as the Lord gives us a model or outline of how to pray. In the fourth petition of that prayer, Jesus commands us to pray for our "daily bread." If we take a quick moment to consider this, it is quite interesting. Jesus doesn't ask us to pray for our "daily 5-course meal," as if we needed lavish foods every day to keep us satisfied. Furthermore, he doesn't ask us to pray for our "yearly bread," but rather to trust him each day at a time. Jesus' point is that we ought to pray for nothing more than what is necessary when it comes to our daily nourishment. We ought to pray for nothing more and nothing less than our daily bread. Yet, why is this so? Well, King Lemuel in Proverbs 30:7-9 gives us a good idea.

In this great prayer of King Lemuel, closely comparable to Jesus' prayer for our "daily bread," Lemuel asks for neither poverty nor riches. Now, this is quite interesting, is it not? Now obviously no one would ever pray for poverty. But why wouldn't anyone want to pray for riches? After all, who wouldn't want to have a 5-course meal every day, a big fancy house, and an airplane hangar in the backyard? Well, King Lemuel wouldn't, actually. Why? Because he knows that for himself, these great and wonderful riches might entice him to forsake the Lord in thinking that he gained all of his wealth by his own power. Thus, he prays simply for that which would sustain him. He prays that God would not give him too much or too little, but just enough, that is, his "daily bread."

Now let me make a quick note on riches. There are many, many people whom God has blessed with riches, even in the Bible. Look at King Solomon! God blessed him with much more than anyone in our current age could dream of. Yet let us realize something: Solomon never asked for these riches. On the contrary, he asked for wisdom. Yet God graciously gave him riches so that he could serve the people of God. Let us realize that we ought not to ask for great riches, yet if God blesses us with them, we ought to use them to serve the Church.

Yet let me point one more thing out this morning that really stood out to me in regards to the Lord's Prayer. In one of the sermons I was listening to, the preacher said that "prayer is for God, not for you." This really struck me. How often do we go to God with our requests, our problems, and our anxieties merely so that he can help us? Is this good? Well, yes and no. Scripture greatly commands us to bring to God our troubles, that's all over scripture. Yet, if we bring our troubles to God merely so that we can use God to feel better, we are using God as a tool. Rather, our main heart in prayer ought to be "hallowed be thy name." Rather than seeking our own health and wealth, we first and foremost seek God's glory. This is why we ask for our daily bread rather than our extravagant wealth. God is the one who deserves all the glory and all the power and all the kingdom; we come to him asking for nothing more than our daily bread. The "lavish" prayers are saved for our God; we merely request of him to give us what we need that we might bring him glory each day.

So, when's the last time you prayed for the Lord to not give you riches, but merely what you needed for the day? Let me encourage you to start praying this now, for it is what the Bible teaches us to pray for! Furthermore, let me encourage you to not have your prayers focused on your needs, but on God's glory. The reason why true Christians pray is not so that they can use God as a tool, but so they can petition for his own glory and honor. Let it be so in our lives today! Amen.