Contentment

thoughts on Paul and Agur

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 30:7-9; Philippians 4:10-13

Thoughts on Agur and Paul

“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.” The wisdom of Agur is threefold:

First, he recognized the weakness of his heart. He was humbly aware of the fragile nature of his spirituality. Knowing you can fall is one of the best antidotes against falling.

Second, Agur saw the connection between the material and the spiritual and how one affects the other. He was aware of the dangers of both wealth and poverty. Our checkbook balance is not an indicator of our spiritual condition but, because of our fallen state, it can be a magnet that pulls us away from the faith.

Third, Agur responded wisely. He prayed. He prayed honestly before the Lord. He sought God’s help. He was praying, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”

Paul, in the New Testament, wrote a similar text about wealth and poverty. He doesn’t disagree with the wisdom of Agur, but his approach is different. Paul tells us he had times of wealth (abounding) and times of poverty (abasement), and he says he learned to be content in either state. The difference, then, is Agur wanted to avoid either extreme and Paul says he experienced both extremes and could be content in either.

Paul gives us the secret to this contentment. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (No, this is not a text about kicking the game-winning field goal in the district playoffs). Paul, like Agur, recognizes his weakness. He sees his soul’s fault line waiting to be shaken, leading to a broken life. But his solution was not moderation. His solution was Christ.

In this understanding, Paul was freed to live in either state. He could abound and abase or just be somewhere in the middle and be spared the disasters that these varying states bring to the soul. He could rest in his circumstances because he was resting in Christ.