TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Date: October 1, 2026. Lesson 194-2026. Proverbs 30:7-9 - Give Me Neither Poverty Nor Riches

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

In this edition of Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart examine the remarkable prayer of Proverbs 30:7–9. Agur asks God for neither poverty nor riches, but for the portion God determines is sufficient. His concern is not financial comfort; it is spiritual faithfulness. He fears abundance could cause him to forget God, while poverty could tempt him to steal and dishonor God’s name. Even more importantly, Agur first prays, “Remove far from me vanity and lies.” This lesson challenges us to consider whether we truly want more or whether we can trust God to decide what is enough. Lesson 194-2026 Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart You can partner with us by visiting MannaNation.com, calling 1-888-519-4935, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961 MEGA FIRE reveals the ancient recurring cycles of war and economic collapse that have shaped history for 600 years. These patterns predict America is now entering its most dangerous period since World War II. Get your copy today! www.megafire.world Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves! www.AmericanReserves.com It’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today! www.Amazon.com/Final-Day Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! www.books.apple.com/final-day Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. www.Sacrificingliberty.com

Welcome to Morning Manor. Welcome to Morning Manor. Your teachers, Rackwiles and Dr. Burkla. Get your Bible and notebook and get ready to here before. Welcome to Morning Manor. We serve great soul food here at Morning Man. And that's because your soul needs to be fed daily, just like your body needs food every day.

Our Bible lessons are archived at manna nation.com. Today's lesson number is 194-226. Morning Manna is financed by the generosity of our Bible study classmates. And so if Morning Manna has been a blessing to you, we would deeply appreciate your support. And you can do that by going to manana nation.com, click the heart in the upper right-hand corner and give as God directs you.

Thank you so much. We are presently studying Proverbs chapter 30, and our study verses for today are 7, 8, and 9. Let's invite the Holy Spirit, and then Dr. Raymond Burckhart will introduce today's lesson. Almighty God, our Father in heaven, we love you with all our heart, mind, and soul. Father, thank you for giving us your word.

for your word is Jesus Christ, and we've come to dying on Him. Father, feed us. Feed us with your precious Word. Holy Spirit preside over this Bible study. Inspire Dr. Burkhard and me to teach your word correctly and bless the ears of the people who are listening to this lesson. Open their ears and eyes to receive your word, Father.

Father, we give you glory and honor and praise in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Welcome to morning, man, everyone. We so appreciate you being here with us as we feed on the Word of God that gospel soul food that we're getting so richly fed from here in the book of Proverbs. Now we're continuing our journey in Proverbs, and we are currently in chapter 30, and as we've been examining this particular chapter this week, we've noticed a definite change in tone

and style in the book of Proverbs as opposed to the first 29 chapters, because now we have a different teacher, and that is teacher Agar. And so his tone and his perspective and his approach to wisdom is a bit different than King Solomon's. And in many ways, his approach has a lot of modern sensibilities to it. And you'll see that reflected to some extent in today's passage, as we look at Proverbs chapter 30 verses 7 through 9. Proverbs 30 versus 7 through 9. So turn there, if you will, with me.

And let's read, I'll ring first from the King James and then from the Septuagint. Starting at verse 7, two things I have required of thee. Deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me. lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord, or lest I be poor and steal,

and take the name of my God in vain? Subturgent reads as follows, Two things I ask of thee. Deprive me not of favor before I die. Remove me, excuse me, remove far from me vanity and falsehood, and give me not wealth or poverty, but appoint me what is needful and sufficient, lest I be filled and become false,

and say, who sees me, or be poor and steal and swear vainly by the name of God. And so today, Proverbs chapter 30 verses 7 to 9 is the new centerpiece in teacher agers material. And there's three facts about it that should be established before a word of it is examined. So, first of all, amazingly enough, this is the only prayer in the Book of Proverbs. the only prayer in the book of Proverbs. 31 chapters of instruction. You've got commands, observations, comparisons, warnings, you've got all different styles.

And in all of it, only this one place where a man stops addressing his hearers and addresses God. Second, it's not Solomon's, as we mentioned before. It's the only recorded prayer in Solomon's book, and it belongs to a man about whom we, we know very, very little, almost nothing, who opened his section by calling himself more brutish than any man.

And then, third, and probably the most striking, it contains a request no one else in Scripture asks. You can search the Bible, and you'll find people asking God for things like deliverance, children, wisdom, victory, healing, forgiveness, long life, enlarged territory. Solomon asked for an understanding of heart to receive riches he had not requested.

Jabez asked God to enlarge his coast. Nowhere else does a man look at the possibility of prosperity and ask God specifically not to send it. So, Agar does. And the reason he gives is what makes this passage significant rather than merely unusual. The lessons aimed today, what we're trying to get across here in our study, is to examine those two requests, including the first which nearly everyone skips, to understand why his stated fears come from a religious perspective rather than economic, and to hear the question he is

afraid to ask. This will be a fascinating study today of the only prayer in the book of Proverbs. Rick starts us off looking at verse 7. Rick. Thank you, Doc. Doug, studying for this lesson was a delight. It was I had my eyes were open to things I had not seen before in these verses. As I studied the word, studied what commentators had said about it, you know, centuries ago, and really pondered. why is Agar he's finishing the book of Proverbs he's Solomon signed off

there chapter 29 Agar is now the teacher and he's got a different tone than Solomon Solomon who was the richest, wisest man who ever lived now we have Agar saying two things required of thee

deny me them not before I die There's three features in this request that we need to look at. Firstly, he counts them. Two things, he says. Edgar is precise. And this precision is characteristic of what we're going to see throughout this entire chapter, chapter 30. No, this is a theme you're going to see throughout the rest of the chapter.

He uses numbers throughout the entire chapter here. And it's really different than the rest of the book. He's very precise. This is the man who will say shortly, there be three things, Ye ain't four. And he says it six separate times. He counts.

He knows precisely what he's asking for. Counting a prayer is unusual. Most prayers are not enumerated. Most people don't go to God with a list. Well, God, here's the 10 things I want to talk to you about today. This enumeration tells us something about Agar. It tells me that Agar thought about this prayer. He thought it through, Doc, before he opened his mouth to God.

He pondered this. He didn't just casually say to God. I got some things on a list here I want to talk to you about. He gave it serious thought. Then he went to God in prayer and said, I've been thinking about this, and these are the things I'm asking. He is not pouring out whatever arises in his head. He has considered what he actually needs, and he reduced it to two items.

That itself is worth noting. Most people have never sat down to determine what they would ask God for if they could only ask twice. The second thing is notable here. Is this Hebrew verb, Sha'a, which means to ask, to request, to inquire. It is the ordinary word for asking.

It's not a demand. It's not claiming. It's not negotiating. He's not saying, I stand on your promise, all God, I have this right. That's not how he's approaching the Lord. He's asking.

He's asking with humility. In fact, This word, Sha'all, is the root behind the name for Saul, which means asked for. The third thing is worth noting, he says, before I die, this, the Hebrew free theology here, Baita Rim Amut, it places the request against the whole span of his life. Agar is not asking for something to get him through a particular week. He is asking for the terms of which he will live out his remaining years on earth, which means these two requests are not situational.

They are the things he desires to be true of him whenever the end comes. Deny me, them not. Do not withhold, Lord. Do not keep back. There's a Hebrew word here, manna. It spelled looks like mana, M-A-N-A, manna. It describes holding something back that could have been given. Deny me, them not. Don't hold back.

I'm asking you for these two things before I die. Do not hold them back. Matthew Henry observed that the man, a woman who has, has narrowed his or her requests to two things, has done more spiritual work than the man or woman with a long list, because the narrowing required him or her to decide what he or she could do without. Right. And so when we consider, once again,

we always consider what the doctrinal foundation is within any of our passages. And so the foundation beneath verse 7 here concerns, in this particular case, the nature of petition. When we approach God and we're asking God, Agar's opening establishes something that shapes everything after it. So his approach, Agar's approach, ask as a creature, not as someone claiming something. So what do we mean by that?

There's no bargaining on his part. There's no appeal to its merit, no reminder of, look what I did for you. Now, service is rendered. He's not telling God what his situation requires, or he's not explaining why the request his reason was not making an argument. He asks, states his reasons honestly, and then stops. The phrase before I die, that's interesting there isn't it, establishes his posture. This Agar is praying with his mortality in view. In other words, he knows there's an endpoint for his life. And that awareness, because he knows that life is short, then he doesn't need

long prayers either. And so Psalm 90, verse 12, makes the connection. It says, so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts into wisdom. And so numbering. And so numbering your days, not numbering how many you've lived, but how many you got left. The number of days produces wisdom, and one form that wisdom takes is making shorter petitions, shorter list of wants. Over in the New Testament, James chapter 4, starting at verse 14, we read, What is your life? It is even a vapor. For that, you ought to say, if the Lord will. And so it's worth observing what is not in its list. Notice that he doesn't ask for long life.

You have people in the Bible to ask for longer lives. He doesn't ask for long life. Doesn't ask for good name. He doesn't ask for children. Doesn't ask for success. Doesn't ask for the defeat of his enemies. Doesn't ask for relief from any affliction. And so whatever teacher Agar's circumstances were,

and really, and the text never tells us, he did not ask God to change them. Isn't that fascinating? So we have a book of wisdom, and in the arrival, you know, start off the chapter with these questions and questioning, you know, everything up to, what does wisdom mean?

If I can't have the revelation of God, and then you get that revelation, then you realize, you know what? Time short. Time short here on this earth. And so should my prayers. They should also be short. You ever thought about that, Rick? I am now because of this study. So, Doc, if an angel appeared before you and said,

Raymond Burkart God sent me to you to tell you that he will grant you three requests that's it that's it for your life you get three requests would you just

spout all three things or would you say could you give me a couple days to think about this and come back I can't okay let me think about it I need to think of this through I'm being told I can get God's going to give me three things but that's it three things for the rest of my life

I'm better shoot right too I'll stick with aggers too how about that? I know and but think trick and what the request whatever the answer is and I'm not sure what the answer would be the answer would be different now than it would have been five years ago or 10 years ago or 20 years ago if you would to ask me because the circumstances of life have changed. And I'm older now. And I'm numbering my days. Okay, I'm looking out on the horizon and realizing, you know what? I got fewer days ahead of me than behind me.

That's right. And so we don't know. We don't know Agar's age at this time where he said, okay, I'm going to narrow this down to two things. So let's talk about those things. Verse 8. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Get me neither poverty nor riches.

Feed me with food convenient for me. First requests, remove far from me vanity and lies. I would say most people who have quoted Proverbs 30 verse 8 skip part of it. The first request is usually skipped entirely. Okay. Most people just say, give me neither poverty nor riches. But that's not how he said it. He said, let's go back and look at it.

Remove far from me vanity and lies. He said that before he got to the poverty and riches. Vanity, the Hebrew word here is shav. it means emptiness, worthlessness, falsehood, something that has no substance. I think social media influencers, they have no substance. I shouldn't say that. You know, it's an empty life, okay, a person making their career on TikTok. That's where we're at today.

How can you imagine Agar saying, make me feel. famous on TikTok. I mean, that's what people would say today. Now, vanity is the word in the third commandment. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Vane. Vanity.

It reappears in verse 9 of chapter 30, proverbs, when Agar names his fear of taking God's name in vain. So, Doc, one of his fears was that he would live out his life and never take the name of the Lord in vain. That was so important to him that he started his request with it.

Oh, God, let me live out the years of my life and never take your name in vain. See, we're thinking, he said, keep me from vanity. Like, oh, don't let me become vain and huffed up and proud. No, he's saying, don't let me take your name in vain. Right.

Then he says lies, words of deception, false statements. So the first request concerns truth. Remove emptiness and falsehood from me. Now, let's consider the ambiguity in this statement, and it's deliberate. Is Agar asking to be protected from lies told to him? to be spared deception by other people? Or is Agar asking to be kept from telling lies? To be preserved from becoming a liar himself?

That's a fascinating question. Is he saying, God, keep me, protect me from liars? Or is he saying, God, don't let me become a liar? So I think the original Hebrew language allows both interpretations. I don't think it's one or the other. Verse six has just warned that a man who adds to God's words shall be found a liar. Verse nine will name his fear of profaning God's name. So look at verse 6, 7, 8, 9.

What is Agar talking about? probably and I clearly I'm not a theologian so there are much smarter people out there who have studied the word of God but you're not on television okay that's all I can say to people who say well Rick Wallace is in a train Bible student he didn't get a sentence okay but God didn't give them an international television platform he gave it to me Oh, Rick Wells, okay, because I'm just coming to you humbly as a businessman, as a husband, as a father, a grandfather, I'm just teaching the word as I see it, as I know it. I think I would say it's a request to be kept from falsehood in himself. Right.

Obviously, he doesn't want to be victimized by liars. Nobody wants to find out that they've relied to. but I think his bigger concern was that he would never turn out to be a liar. He says, remove, remove far from me. Make it distance. Distant. Make this far from me. He's not saying keep me from lying.

He's saying, put that lying spirit far from me. Don't let me even get close to becoming a lie. lying spirit. So, Doc, I think you can say, this is a request of a man who knows he cannot be trusted near the spirit of lying. Think about that. He is not asking God for the strength to resist falsehood at a close range. He is asking for distance. He's not saying, when the lying Spirit is close to me, help me resist it. He's saying, God, keep me far from it. I don't trust myself.

Adam Clark said that Agar's request for distance rather than strength to resist is the mark of accurate self-knowledge. Since a man or woman who genuinely understands his or her own weaknesses does not ask to be tested and found faithful. He or she asked not to be tested. That's right. The best way to pass a test, not to be tested. Right. And so that seems to be the direction that Agar is taking this. And it's interesting, Rick, here that in this passage, there's an ordering of truth before money.

Did you notice that? There's an ordering of truth before money. And that's an ordering of truth before money. And that ordering of truth before money, I think, has a purpose. Agar asked about truth before he ask about money. And let's just be honest, the two are more closely connected than most of our students may notice. Because Rick, you and I have observed over the years, a man's financial condition shapes what he's willing to tell the truth about. Right? it's a man's financial condition shapes what he's willing to tell the truth about

and so throughout our study here we've developed that connection throughout proverbs you recall back in proverbs 28 chapter 28 21 described a man who would transgress and the word that was used there wasn't like I just made a mistake it was a word for rebellion would transgress go into rebellion for a piece of bread and then again in

chapter 28 it warned about a man hastening to be rich shall not be innocent because the deadline narrows his available means. So T. Drager here is asking not to be placed in a condition where the pressure to lie becomes strong. And so that connection runs the other direction as well. Verse 9 is going to say that the abundance produces a specific lie. Who is the Lord? And poverty produces another, the profaning of God's name to cover theft. So we're going to see that in verse 9. So both financial conditions he asked we spared are conditions that produce falsehood. And the two requests are one request, really are just one request where they're approached from two different angles here. If you remove falsehood for me, remove falsehood for me, and do not place me

where falsehood becomes necessary. Now, some of them watching or listening to them and I say, well, just, you know, don't lie. Well, the agorizance, don't even put me in a situation where lying's an option. So Psalm 119 actually records the same prayer. So you've got an additional witness in scripture on this. Remove from me the way of lying.

and grant me thy law graciously. Same verb family, same request, same pairing of truth with God's word. And so as a pastor approaching this, this application is worth pressing gently here. People routinely pray about their circumstances, but Rick, they rarely pray about their honesty, which really is remarkable since the second is entirely within the domain where God works and the first frequently is not. How many times has God changed your circumstances when you pray? How many times does that actually happen?

I mean, it's happened, but it's really kind of rare when he's time of thinking about it. When we ask him to change you, you know that's something he's going to work on. Now, you know that's something he is going to, Put as a high priority on his list. All right, Doc asked me for something about him. That I can do right now. I put that right at the top of my list. And so we see Agar here coming to this new approach here

of realizing the change has to come from him, not from everything else around him, but from inside of him and in his relationship to his father, God. Doc, what I have found in my life over the years is that God, God uses your circumstances to talk about changing you. Yes, that's right. He knows we want out of those circumstances. And you know, I got your attention now.

Let's talk about some things in you. And as I see progress and growth in you, you'll see changes in your circumstances. We don't like that, all right? As sons and daughters, we don't like that. But that's the way our Heavenly Father works in us. He uses those circumstances to mold us and shape us. You know, I always, I joke about them.

My prayers are conversation between Mr. Do and Mr. B. I tell the Lord what I desire to do, and he tells me what he desires me to be. And so we have this conversation back and forth. I desire to do this, and he says, I desire you. to be this. And what I have found, Doc, is that he works through the things that I seek to do for him to change me to be what he desires me to be. So I hope that's a revelation to some people. Stop trying to get out of your circumstances. Let the Lord change you. Your circumstances will change. The next thing, he says, give me neither poverty nor riches.

Feed me with food convenient for me. How many people would pray this? It's stated as a double negative, neither poverty nor riches. Agar is the only person in the Holy Bible, to my knowledge, who asked God not to make him wealthy. Yeah. Now, just to set this straight, God made Abraham rich.

God gave Abraham the power to gain wealth. Job was the greatest of all men of the East in his age. Solomon asked for wisdom. And God gave him wisdom and put a big helping of a wolf on top of it. It wasn't even a request. God said, oh, you ask for wisdom, I'll give you wisdom. and I'll make you wealthy. Jabads prayed for enlargement and God branded it.

There's nothing wrong with becoming wealthy. If you know how to handle. If you use it for the right purposes to establish the covenant of God in the earth, to take care of widows and orphans, to feed hungry children, to be merciful to the poor, to finance the preaching of the gospel. Wealth is a good thing. So there's nothing wrong with asking God to make you wealthy for the right reasons.

But Agar says, don't make me wealthy and don't make me poor. None of those people that I mentioned, Abraham, Joe, Solomon, Jabass. None of them are condemned for their prosperity. The Bible never treats wealth as a sin. It is the love of money that's root of all. Not the money is the love of money. That goes back to what you be, right? You be greedy, right?

And that's the sin. Hager, however, says, I don't desire any of them. Then he says, feed me with food convenient for me. Now, there's an interesting Hebrew word here. The English is spelled H-O-Q is pronounced H-O-K. And there's another word, Hebrew word, taruff, T-A-R-A-P-H-T-R-A-P-H-T-R-A-H-T-R-A-H-R-E-H-R-E-R-E-R-E-R-E-R-E-R-E. And it's, that word is usually applied in context of a predator animal, tearing its prey. ripping it apart.

In this form, it means to provide food. But the underlying image is of a portion torn off and handed over. It makes sense. So this word hook, H-O-Q, it means portion, an allotment, a prescribed measure, that which has been appointed or decreed for someone by somebody else. It's used in Genesis 47, verse 22,

of the allowance Pharaoh assigned to the Egyptian priest. And again, in Leviticus 618, of the portion of the offerings assigned to Aaron's sons. So Agar is not asking for a comfortable, Hold on. Don't work. So Agar is not asking for a comfortable middle-class existence in suburbia. He is asking God to determine the amount and supply that God desires to give him.

That's the important thing to grasp here. Agar is not saying, give me enough. He is saying, give me my allotted portion. In other words, God, I am not going to go through my life trying to determine how much I earn, how much I own, how much I accumulate. I am submitting to you and I am asking you to make that decision. for me. Now, Doc, God could have made Agra rich. Agra gave God permission. Agra saying to God, you decide my net worth. You decide my income. You decide my possessions. You decide what food I eat. I submit to you. I surrender to you. I am not going to make these decisions.

But God, God didn't ask Agro to do this. This is not a command. from God. God allowed Abraham to become rich. It gave him the power to get wealth. God himself made Solomon rich. But here is Agar saying, I am surrendering my right to go through life accumulating what I, what my hands can can build. You have that right. You have that right. have that right as a person to be productive, to be successful. Agar is saying, I surrender it. I'm asking you, oh, God, you decide how much I earn, how much I keep, how much you decide what I'm fit. You determine my lifestyle. Give me my allotted portion. That's the meaning of this word. So Charles Bridges, who was an Anglican priest, he observed that this Hebrew word hoax removes the request from the realm of preference entirely, since a man asking for his appointed portion has surrendered the right to specify what that portion should be.

So that's the key there. How many people are willing to give up that right? God, you know what my portion is. And even Agar wasn't even sure what his portion was, but that God had a portion set aside for him. And in many ways, this is a reflection on manna in the wilderness, and it's appropriate. Here we are morning manna being fed every day.

There's two passages that really help eliminate Agers, phrase here and what he's asking for. So talking about manna in the wilderness in Exodus chapter 16. So in Exodus 16, records that when Israel gathered their daily manna and that hoarding was made impossible, what was kept overnight, bread, worms, and stank, right? You couldn't eat it next morning. So if you tried to hoard it, nothing doing there. And that arrangement lasted for 40 years. In Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 3, states why God did it that way, said, that He might make thee know that man does not live by bread only.

God deliberately trained a nation out of accumulation and into daily dependence. Now, in the New Testament, we have an example there, too, and where do we find it? Of all places, the Lord's Prayer. What does it say there? give us this day our daily bread, not our weekly bread, not our yearly bread, but our daily bread, Matthew 611. And so the Greek word there, Pio Uzios, it's a word appearing almost nowhere else in any Greek literature, not just biblical literature, but any Greek literature, carries the sense of bread sufficient for the coming day, for one day only.

not a stockpile but a portion so agger the manna and christ all own instruction all point at the same posture sustained dependence rather than secured independence and so two qualifications are necessary because really this is an uncomfortable prayer for anyone who spent a career building the second thing and scripture first of all scripture doesn't condemn saving Proverbs commends the aunt who provides her meat, summer, and Joseph stored grain for seven years

and saved not just a civilization. I believe Joseph saved the world with his plan, that God gave him a plan to save the world from starving to death. And so reserves are not the problem. and Agar is not prescribing this for everyone. This is where he has come to appoint at. This is a prayer on his part.

It's not a command. He does not say, you must ask this. He says, I've asked this. And then he explains his reasons for asking. What he is asking is that the reserves never become the thing that he trust, that the retirement fund doesn't become a thing that he trusts, that the investment fund that he has doesn't become the thing that he trust, that what he possesses now doesn't become the thing that he trusts,

but that the Lord's portion that is granted to it is what he trust in. And that's the reason in verse 9. This is a fascinating study. Verse 9, lest I be full and deny thee, and say, who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God and name. Now we're getting a look at Agar's heart, why he's asking God for these two things.

Agar names two dangers, and he supplies a reason for each. And this unlocks the whole passage. none of the reasons he mentions are economic. He does not say poverty is uncomfortable or wealth is complicated. He says nothing about stress and anxiety and security and standard of living or the difficulties of either condition. He doesn't mention anything of what it's like to be poor or rich in your lifestyle. Both of Agar's fears concern what each condition would do to his relationship with God.

His relationship with God was at the highest level, his highest priority. He's saying, these are the two things I worry would affect my relationship with you. The danger of abundance is denial, lest I be fool and deny thee. The Hebrew word here is Caucasus, to deny, to disown, to lie about, to act deceptively toward. So, Agra is afraid that having more than enough would make God optional. that his daily awareness of his dependence on God would evaporate. And then the danger of poverty is desperation, lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain.

See, real need produces real pressure. If you've never been flat out broke for a long time, And you didn't know where you were going to get food to feed yourself and your family. You didn't know how you were going to pay the heat bill, the electric bill, how you're going to pay the rent or the mortgage? You didn't have any... You're just broke. If you've never felt that pressure, you have no idea what you're capable of doing. You just don't know.

But Agar's said, I do know me. And I'm afraid I'd steal. Agger does not pretend he would be above it. He doesn't say, oh, God, give me poverty, and I'll live as a hermit, a monk, and I'll give you praise and glory and honor in my poverty. He doesn't say that all. He goes, no, I steal. Yeah, if I know myself. I know me.

That's what he's saying. He is afraid that hunger and poverty would make him a thief, and that being a thief would make him a liar about God. swearing falsely to cover what he had done. See, why would it make him a liar about God? Because God's word says, the righteous are not beggars. If you're begging or stealing and claiming to be a believer, then you're lying about God. Because God's word says, his people don't beg. They don't go hungry.

Now this Hebrew word shaw vanity, it comes back. the word from his first request in verse 8 reappears in verse 9 the passage closes where it opened with falsehood you've got two conditions two different corruptions

and one man honest enough to admit he is vulnerable to both I like Iger agger's real there's no phoniness with him. He's just saying, I know me. I know what I'm capable of doing. See, Jesus told us that the kingdom of God belongs to those who are poor in spirit. Agar was poor in spirit. Agar knew he was spiritually bankrupt. Spurgeon, Terrell Spurgeon said that most men fear only one of these dangers

and believes themselves immune to the other. And that Agra is dismayed. distinction is that he could see no reason to trust himself in either direction. Yes. You know, what's fascinating about the book of Proverbs, especially this time teaching it, Rick, is now you see those first 29 chapters of teaching by Solomon and everything, and, you know, the wisdom that's poured out and the information that's being given. And then the way I look at chapter 30 here is the existence. examination, the test.

Because once you have that wisdom, what do you do with it? Where are you at? Are you just a better businessman, a better father? Those are good things. There's nothing wrong with that. But have you met God in acquiring that wisdom? You know, the fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom. And now we're really beginning to understand that here in this

passage today. Because there's a detail in verse 9 that most readers walk right on by, and it's the sharpest thing in the entire prayer. Remember, this is the prayer, and say, who is the Lord? That question appears elsewhere in Scripture, and it's spoken by exactly one person. And Pharaoh said, Pharaoh, who is the Lord? That I should obey his voice to let Israel go. know not the Lord. You find that in Exodus 5, too. So, Agar is afraid of becoming Pharaoh

of his own life. And he's not a mildly ungrateful man. Pharaoh, who looked directly at the God of the universe and asked what claim he could possibly have. And teacher Agar

here identifies abundance as the road that leads to that place. So there's a far more serious estimate of the danger of wealth than most people hold. He does not treat prosperity as a distraction to be managed. He treats it as the condition under which a man who forgets who God is, and Agar is asking to be spared from it. And he's not original in the sphere. He is praying against a warning Moses delivered on the very edge of the promised land. It says in Junerami chapter 8 starting in verse

12, bless when thou has eaten and art full, and all that thou hast is multiplied. That thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God. And so this is a period elsewhere in scripture. Moses

warned that prosperity produces forgetting. And verse 17 in that same chapter names the sentence of the forgetful heart in Deuteronry 8 says, my power and the might of mine hand have gotten me this wealth. That's where people get to the point. And so I would say this.

You could take the first 29 chapters of the book of Proverbs and apply it, gain wealth, you know, become successful and do all those things, but where are you at after all that? Would you say that you got it? Well, I applied the principles of wisdom. I know I've done that in the past, but now I have to come to a point,

all right, where has wisdom brought me to? What destination, what point in time? And Agar read the warning and did the only thing a man can do with, he prayed not to be tested. Wow. Doc, I never connected Agar's prayer with the Lord's prayer. Jesus taught us in the Lord's Prayer the sixth petition is lead us not into temptation.

Right. And also the daily bread function of it too. That's right. And so it's not a request for strength to withstand a trial. It's a request to be spared from it. Coming from a man with an accurate estimate of his own resistance. So this prayer cannot simply be prescribed. Most people desire abundance and they intend to handle well. And some genuinely do.

Not everybody goes off the rails when they become wealthy. There are many, many wealthy saints around the world who use their prosperity wisely for the kingdom. But Agar's honesty can be borrowed. even by people who cannot borrow his request. He looked at his prosperity and did not assume he would survive it. He looked at his poverty and did not assume he would stay honest under it. And rather than trusting his own strength in either direction, he asked God to determine the amount he would own and possess and in control in his lifetime.

It really is an amazing request that is based in honesty and just saying, God, you know, sinning against you is such a horrible thought to me. In these two areas, I'm just not strong. And I would rather that you take control. Now, Doc, it's possible. that each of us could apply this prayer in different aspects of our lives, not regarding finances. There may be other areas of our lives where we said, well, you know, regarding this, I just can't handle it. I just need you to make the decision.

It has nothing to do with finances. What I see here, Doc, is that Agri is saying to God, when it comes to money, I don't trust myself. And I'm asking you to make the decisions for me. Again, this is not a command. This is not a principle that you have to obey. This is a lesson that the Bible is giving us. And again, money may not be your issue. You may have other temptations.

You got the weaknesses, and you say to God, In this area, I just can't handle it. I need you to take control. You decide. You choose. I'll go with whatever you choose. That, to me, is the principle that I see here in Agri's prayer. Okay, let's take a look at, I'm going to group together all three verses 7,89,

with the Septuagint. We'll see how it compares with the King James. So read to King James, two things I have required of me, deny me them not before I die, remove far from me vanity and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord, or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain? The Greek Septuagint says it this way, two things I ask of thee, deprive me not of favor, before I die. Remove far from me vanity and falsehood and give me not well for poverty,

but appoint me what is needful and sufficient lest I be filled and become false and say, who sees me or be poor and steal and swear vainly by the name of God? There are three differences. The second of the three is the most significant. In the Septuagin, verse 7 becomes a request for favor. The King James says, deny me them not. The Septuagin says, deprive me not of favor. Of the word used here, grace, goodwill. So that frames the whole prayer as a request for grace rather than for goods. Yes. And then who is the Lord

becomes in the Septuagint, who sees me? This is a major divergence, and it changes the nature of the fear considerably. That the King James man denies God's identity. Fero's question,

who is the Lord? The Septuagent's man denies God's observation, asking, is anybody watching? Both are forms of atheism? Let me explain. The Greek subtergent may be closer to how the danger actually operates. Very few prosperous believers ever say, who is the Lord? Who is God? They would never say that out loud, a believer, We're talking about believers. A great many operate as though the question were, who sees me, which produces the same conduct without requiring the same confession.

Right. And actually this connects to material that we previously studied over and over again throughout Proverbs. Proverbs 153 says The eyes of the Lord are in every place And so the fear of the Lord operates precisely by Removing the category of the unwatch act And the Septuagance version

Here of teacher Agger's fear Is that abundance would restore that category In his thinking In other words You know Everything I do Is being watched Okay

then it also takes the phrase the food convenient for me becomes what is needful and sufficient. They sound like kind of the same thing. But the Greek phrase there is ta diontaki ta atarki. And that word autarkas means self-sufficient, adequate enough. It's the word that the Apostle Paul uses in all places in Philippians 411, where he says, Therewith to be Altarcus, to be content. The same word. And its noun form appears in 1st Timothy 6.6.

Godliness with contentment is great gain. And so true wealth comes with true contentment of what's just needful. And so the Greek translator is written. rendered teacher Agger's hoke that we talked about earlier in our lesson today with the New Testament's vocabulary centuries before Paul ever even used it. And so if we look at the two perspectives on this, the King James and the Septuagint, the King Jane names the portion as appointed, the Septuagint names it as sufficient. And really you put the two, it's mana. What was mana? It was, it was, appointed and it was sufficient.

Okay. One emphasizes who does the allotting, in this case, God, and the other emphasizes that the allotment is enough, that God determines what is needful. So fascinating lesson today, Rick. Yeah, I love this. This was good. Okay. We'll be back tomorrow with more wisdom from Agar, the teacher. He doesn't get much attention, Doc. I, I don't know if I've ever heard a sermon about Aga. Seriously, I don't think I ever have ever heard anybody preach about Agar. But you know what? I relate to Agar personally.

I just, I'm relating to him. You know, it sounds like, it sounds like something I would say. Yeah, this guy's real. You know, there's no pretences. He's real. He's just saying, hey, I know me. God, please help me. Don't, you know, you'd hurt me to say, I pray.

God, don't let me be Rick. Isn't what he's saying? God, don't let me be agger. Don't let me be agger. He knows ager. Okay. So if you're honest, you'd say the same thing. I'll just leave it at that.

Okay. If you're honest and not full of it, you'd say the same thing. God, don't let me be me. Because it's me that gets us in trouble. Okay. right and it's not about becoming more like jesus you can't become more like jesus do you do you understand that you cannot become more like jesus what you have to do is let

jesus be more of you okay meaning controlling you less of doc that's right you decrease and jesus increases in you it's not that he changes you to be like him you submit to let you Let him rule your life. That's what we have to do, right? Take care. See you tomorrow. God bless you. Thank you for watching Morning Manor.

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