Year 8, Day 321: Proverbs 30

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This chapter of Proverbs is unlike any other.  The author is different, and that becomes obvious as soon as you read.  The tempo of the words is different.  The formation of the stanzas are different.  The point of the sayings are different.  This is a unique chapter pulled out of a very unique book.

I love where the author starts.  He begins in humility.  He acknowledges that there is a whole host of things that he does not understand. There is much that he cannot comprehend.  I personally feel that the beginning of understanding is always the recognition of that which we don’t know.  The reason I love this idea is because it genuinely blends into what the Bible says is the beginning of wisdom.  The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.  Why do we fear Him?  We fear Him because we realize that we have limitations and then realize that He does not.  We begin the walk of our own understanding when we acknowledge our own lack of understanding; we begin our own fear of the Lord when we recognize He does not suffer from the same lack.

After this, the author moves into a great perspective.  Keep me from lying and falsehood.  In other words, keep me from sin.  Keep me from doing things that I shouldn’t be doing.  Keep me from things that I think will lift me up but in reality they will only end up tearing me down.  That’s a genuinely brilliant thought right there, and I bet that’s a thought that is easy to understand.

The rest of the verse is more brilliant and more complex.  Give me neither poverty nor riches.  That’s a nice middle ground, isn’t it?

Why don’t we want poverty?  If we have poverty, we may begin to doubt the provision of God.  If we have poverty, we might be tempted to steal.  If we are in poverty, it will make it harder to practice what we preach.

Why don’t we want riches?  In a phrase, if I have everything what need do I have of God?  If all of my wants are satisfied, what purpose will my mind find for God in my life?  If I have everything, it is easier to put God out of my life in the first place.

What we actually find in this verses, Proverbs 30:8-9, is a brilliant balance.  We need to have a life that knows the provision of God.  We need a life that has enough to know the provision of God but not so much that we are convinced that the provision of God is really our own provision.

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