Never too Old

NEVER TOO OLD - The wisdom of God for a balanced life 

Proverbs 30:7-9 Two things I ask of you; do not deny them to me before I die:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying; 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 (tapas – manipulate) the name of my God.
This powerful prayer is one that we are never too old or too young to pray. In this prayer we are praying for the wisdom for some of the wisest choices we can make for the rest of our lives. And while ever we are alive we can still say the phrase ‘before I die’. This prayer contains a twofold request on behalf of all of us to God. The first request has to do with being given a heart of truth in two special areas in our lives and the second request is being given the integrity to be content in all circumstances whether in times of scarcity or abundance.
When we pray about truth, we are asking for two different aspects of untruth to be removed from us, and these are falsehood and lying which have both been in humanity from the very beginning. 

Falsehood (shav) was the flaw that Satan exploited in the as yet untested mind and heart of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 
That word for falsehood shav in Hebrew is a strong negative word describing the deception that leaves one with a feeling of desolation and uselessness (Strong’s Concordance as. ???? shav; to make desolate). And because the heart is our active responder to life it will respond to whatever information the mind feeds it. The lie spoken by Satan and planted in the minds of Adam and Eve was the falsehood of being separated from the truth of God’s love and goodness towards them, and in their deception their human hearts could not trust that God wanted the best for them, and their souls were plunged into desolation. Darkness continues to feed our human heart through an independent mindset of separation that erodes our trust in a loving God and so we decide what we want as the best for our lives. 
That lie not only robs us of the truth of his loving heart of goodness and blessing towards us but make us live at a distance from God and even to hide from him like Adam and Eve did because of shame and guilt. And so we can end up living a false life with a false image of who we are rather than as the real person in the true image of who God created us to be in Jesus.  
So we pray for that falsehood to be removed and for us to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, for a mindset of faith and trust in him. So he rescues us from the prison of our own falsehood - shava. Ask God to show you who he is to you, and for you, and who you truly are in his sight and he will reveal this to you.

The other aspect of untruth to be removed from us is lying (dabar) and that Hebrew word means do harm to another person by falsely judging or accusing or blaming them.
Adam blamed Eve for making him eat of the forbidden fruit -  The woman you gave to me, she made me eat it! Not only did he blame her, he blamed God, and did great harm not only to his relationship with God, but also to his relationship with Eve. That lying continues to feed the human heart to this day as an aspect of untruth that we can pray to have removed from us.

The Bible says that ‘life and death are in the power of the tongue’ (Proverbs 18:21) and this misuse of the power of the tongue in the destroying of another person’s name and reputation and honour maligns their essential being or nature. When we pray for God to remove this kind of lying from us we become peacemakers and bless not only our relationships with individuals but we can become part of the blessing and healing of entire communities.

The second request in our prayer is about having the integrity to be content with neither too much wealth nor too much scarcity. The prayer starts by saying ‘give me neither riches nor poverty; 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.’
This first part of this request has to do with riches. The request is one of asking for the wisdom to approach life with God as one of always being in need while always being aware of not having greed. The Bible says You cannot serve two masters: God and money. For you will despise one and love the other or love the one and despise the other’. 
The Scripture also warns us not to determine to be rich to the point where we say we have no need of God and that our own hand can supply for us what we want from life. 
Deuteronomy 8:12 Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord. He fed you with manna in the wilderness so that you would become humble and so that your trust in him would grow, and he could do you good. He did it so that you would never feel that it was your own power and might that made you wealthy. Always remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you power to get wealth.

I believe that the best place to be coming from when we approach the Lord is from a place of need – ‘feed me with the food that is needful for me’ . When we come to God humbly in this way our need is the voice of our hope, but we also come to God with thanksgiving, for this is our voice of faith. The food that is needful for us speaks of any kind of means or supply. It can mean anything - finances, wisdom, or the abilities that he has put in our hands and in our hearts to do what he would have us do.  Knowing we are in need of him also keeps us close to him, not just because of the need, but because the closeness develops into a relationship where we get to know and trust him and to be patient and wait for him to give us the food or particular resource that he knows that we need. Any empowering from God to a person to get wealth is an act of his grace. This is a gift of an ability that is bestowed and not earned, and along with any empowering of any gift or ability comes the accountability towards God for that ability. It is his bestowal, not our entitlement and that bestowal requires our stewardship. 

Paul spoke about his empowerment in Christ to having both abundance and scarcity when he shared about learning to be content with whatever he had. 
Philippians 4:11 I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation, in abundance or scarcity, whether it be a full stomach or hunger; for I can do all things that God asks me to through Christ who gives me the strength and power to do it.
While Paul had a godly approach to abundance and wealth, Paul also speaks about the ungodly approach to abundance and wealth and of a wrong desire to get rich as leading to many temptations.
1Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
In our original prayer in the book of Proverbs we also saw the mention of an ungodly approach to abundance and wealth where it said. ‘feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD? 

This means that if the love of money drives us to get our own wealth, we become detached from God’s idea of what is needful for us and we deny him, saying ‘Who is the Lord?’ This not only means having our soul pierced with many sorrows, it also means not having faith to draw close to him which means that we don't get to learn to trust him or be patient and be taught of him, and in turn we don't get to know him or to see what he does, and we don’t get to give him thanks in all things. 

Just as there is an ungodly approach to wealth there is also an ungodly approach to poverty and scarcity which is highlighted in the second part of our prayer that says. ‘or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.’ This is seen in people who become envious and resentful of the wealth of others and steal and cheat without conscience.  This can also become an angry and emotional demand for justice as seen in some of today’s activist and destructive protest culture. 

Paul told us he was empowered to live through Christ in godly scarcity as well as in abundance (Philippians 4:11). He gave God thanks in times of abundance and scarcity. He knew that the supernatural work of God in demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit did not depend on money but nonetheless he gave thanks to God for his financial provision, and he honoured those who blessed him and supported him in this way. 

Philippians 4:10 How grateful I am and how I praise the Lord that you are helping me again. I know you have always been anxious to send what you could, but for a while you didn’t have the chance. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little… But even so, you have done right in helping me in my present difficulty. Paul finishes by saying. ‘And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.’

Just as there is a godly grace of empowerment for us to get wealth, there is also a godly grace for us to experience scarcity, so that either way we might bestow and multiply grace and blessing to others. I want to underline once again that this attitude of faith towards God concerns more than just material possessions or money. It has to do with time and effort and the care and compassion that is given from each one of us to one another. This emphasises the point about the best place to be coming from as we approach the Lord - We come from that place of need – ‘feed me with the food that is needful for me’. We come from that place of need before God, and we can then go to a place of need in another person’s life with what he puts in our hands and in our hearts to do. In this way thanksgiving is multiplied and more grace is given to us all - Amen.