Coins of Trust

HIGHLIGHT: Proverbs 30:7-9. O God, I beg two favors from you; First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty no riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, "Who is the Lord?" And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insul God's holy name.

EXPLAIN: The writer starts these three verses with a request of two favors. The first is to make sure they never tell a lie. Lies are deception on every level. The levels are a break in relationship due to the deception. The relationship with the person who is told the lie - they feel unworthy to know the truth. The relationship with the one who tells the lie - they now have to carefully navigate life as to not reveal their true intentions. The relationship with God is broken - because all sinful acts are a direct insult to the trust that God will work in our lives for our best.

The other requests can be represented by one coin with two sides: Don't let me get to rich; don't let me be too poor. Both of these requests are lines drawn before the ultimate line because the author recognizes the potential to fall.

The line - Give me just enough to satisfy my needs - is a holy quote in that it reflects a heart that desires to trust God for everything. They don't want to look ahead at what they can get or how they will struggle. Simple living in honor of the King of Kings, recognizing that God will provide our needs.

APPLY: I really don't worry to much about things in life. I tend to have a bigger windshield than mirror which helps me not to worry about the past. However, if there is one area I struggle to trust it is in the area of finances. God has been at work in my life over the last fifty-two years and my trust is greater today than ever before in my life.

The reason that I called the line about "satisfy my needs" is not because I want a lot of things - that is not my jam. However, as I have been working through the Old Testament I have been challenged with God's word that He longs to provide.

I had read the story of the the Israelites and the manna/quail incident. The key part for me, over the last five months, is that God said to pick things up daily. Only on the day before the sabbath are they to pick up twice the amount of food needed for today and tomorrow. This would have been a new habit to start and a hard habit to break.

I do not want to tell a lie, either. So I end this section with rememberance: God has always provided for my family and myself! There have been multiple times that I have been overwhelmed, concerned ~ and let me be honest: freaking out. The truth is: God is faithful - always!

RESPONSE: Heavenly Father, may I never forget your faithfulness, and may that remembering and reminding of your faithfulness carry me into the unknowns of the future.