Proverbs 30:7
"Two things I asked of You, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches, Feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny You and say Who is the Lord? Or that I not be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God. Give me neither poverty nor riches."
This section tells us that God has boundaries around your prosperity. There is an upper limit that you should make and a lower limit that you should possess. These limits are somewhat expandable by your actions, attitude, and choices; but there is a point at which you should not go even though you could. Every person has a lot in life. God has built into your life boundaries which you should not go past. These are moral boundaries and wisdom boundaries.
It is absolutely imperative that we understand that the goal of life is not to end up with the most toys or money or possessions but to present to God wisdom that we have obtained. It is a deep tragedy that we are busy collecting rocks and green slips of paper while the real goal is to collect wise decisions and actions. The rocks and green slips of paper will not make it through the doorway called death but wisdom will. No one – no matter how marginalized, no matter how rich, no matter how disadvantaged, no matter how remote – is eliminated from or put at huge disadvantage. We are all able to make wise decisions. We are all able to stay within the boundaries that God has set up for us.
This section of three verses details the range of material blessing that all of us should be shooting for. In our day and age we believe that the more money the better, but that is not true. It is possible to make too much so that you would forget that God is God and you are not. Usually to make this amount of money means you must move outside the Ten Commandments boundaries to gain it. Notice that the person in the verse prays that God would give the food that is his portion and not someone else's portion. There is also pride that happens as you move outside of your God-given boundary. "I don't need the Lord; I did this myself through my own skill and smarts. I am sitting on top of the world."
It is almost unheard of today to suggest that we could not handle nor want unlimited wealth. It, however, comes with great responsibility, burden, and troubles. It can become very easy to trust in your wealth instead of God.
I want my children to understand that you can go outside of God's boundaries in terms of wealth creation, but you will pay a heavy price for it. To set wealth or material possessions as the goals of your life means that you have a love of money, and it is the root of all sorts of evil. You will no longer be in the right place to see the opportunities of God; you will be subject to temptations that will most likely be too much for you to handle; you will forget the Lord and not depend upon Him. He will only be a social addition to your life, not the center of your existence.
It is also possible to move below the level of material provision that the Lord wants you to have. This is most often caused by laziness and extreme forms of pride. The derelicts and bums and drug pushers who have no place to live are unwilling to let anyone tell them how to live and conform them to any standard. They will be their own boss and spend their time doing what they want even if it means that they have no money and hardly anything to eat. In our society it is possible for people to embrace laziness as a lifestyle and ask others to support them. This position will lead you to violating the standards of God and a host of problems. Often our indiscriminate societal safety net teaches irresponsibility and selfishness.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz