Send to Kindleby Jim Hughes
Prov. 30:7-9 O God, I beg two favors from you before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! 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 insult God’s holy name.
If you were to be given two things from God before you die, what would you want them to be? What are the two things that you want more than anything else? What you would ask for says a lot about your heart.
The writer of this Proverb asked first for the integrity of his heart so he would never tell a lie. It was important to him that he would always tell the truth. It certainly is a noble thing to want from God. I wonder if we have the same kind of a desire for our soul. Are we concerned about the integrity of our hearts? From what I observe in the lives of many, I don’t think this is a priority. We seem to be content with mediocre living in Christ and not wanting to be more like him as we should. Do you always tell the truth?
The second thing on the writer’s mind was contentment with his life situation. He wanted a heart that did not crave after the things of life. He understood the danger of relying on stuff for his satisfaction in life instead of God. He wanted no part of that. He valued his relationship with God and was determined to not let the riches of the world rob him of fellowship with God. It is something that we must all think about. Do we let our quest for “better living” get in the way of our relationship with God? He also was concerned about what affect not having enough would have on his soul. He didn’t want to be in a position where he felt he would be compelled to steal in order to survive in the world. He wanted enough to live on so that he could continue to live rightly before God and always honor His holy name.
The two things mentioned in today’s verses are indeed noble desires to have. May we too desire to always have hearts of integrity as we live in relationship with God. May we too always value our relationship with the Lord so much that we seek for His protection from anything that would get in the way of us having pure hearts before Him.
About the Author:
Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.
C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one’s self from such failures.
I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn’t broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.