A WISE REQUEST

Proverbs 30:7 …Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): 8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches-Feed me with the food allotted to me; 9 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.

INTRODUCTION:

True character is revealed in what people really want from life…

Matthew 6:21 …For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Real wants become more intense as one becomes more

conscious of the brevity of life…

Proverbs 30:7b …(Deprive me not before I die)…

James said that life is as “a vapor that appears for a little

time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14)…

The Psalmist in viewing man’s life-span, said, “So teach us

to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto

wisdom” (Psalm 90:12)…

The writer of Proverbs revealed a wise request, one that we

should give the most serious consideration…

HE PRAYS FOR DELIVERANCE FROM MORAL CONTAMINATION…

Proverbs 30:8a … Remove falsehood and lies far from me…

Falsehoods. (“Deceptions” NASV)…

False doctrines entrap, enslave, and condemn…

1 Timothy 4:1 …Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

Men lie in wait to deceive us…

Ephesians 4:14 …that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

They go to great extremes to make converts…

Matthew 23:15 …Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

God’s Word is the only true standard…

John 17:17 …Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

Riches can be very deceitful…

Mark 4:18 …Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 “and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

They promise a false security…

Luke 12:15 …And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” 16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully…..

False friendships can discourage and weaken us…

Proverbs 14:20 …The poor man is hated even by his own neighbor, But the rich has many friends... (This sad but true picture of human nature is not given approvingly, but only as a fact…)

Many otherwise good Christians are ruined by false friends…

Let us set our hearts only on that which is solid, durable,

and eternal…

Lies…

Isaiah 59:4 …No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.

Our prayer, like the writer of Proverbs, is that lies will be

far removed from us…

We pray that lying will not be part of our lives, and that we will

not be involved in the lies of others…

We, as servants of Christ, are to put away lying…

Ephesians 4:25 …Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.

Colossians 3:9 …Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,

HE PRAYS FOR A MODERATE LIVELIHOOD…

(Why neither poverty nor riches?)

He said, “Lest I be full and deny You, and say, “Who is the

Lord?” (Proverbs 30:9a – KJV)

There is a tendency to forget God when we have plenty…

Deuteronomy 6:10 …So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 “houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant-when you have eaten and are full- 12 “then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

Israel did that very thing…

Deuteronomy 32:15 …But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16 They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, To gods they did not know, To new gods, new arrivals That your fathers did not fear. 18 Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you.

The Word of God teaches us to have the right view of

riches…

1 Timothy 6:9 …But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

We should be appreciative of our present blessings…

Colossians 4:2 …Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

Our appreciation should come from the heart…
Someone mentioned this as a illustration to show how people

often don’t really appreciate things…

“We attended the wedding of an acquaintance’s son. Because we did not know the young man or his bride, we decided to send them a practical household gift, a fire extinguisher. Apparently, the couple mass-produced their thank-you notes because we received a card saying: ‘Thank you very much for the nice wedding gift. We look forward to using it soon.'”

Consider the following…

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self- sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us! It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

…President Abraham Lincoln, April 30, 1863

We must learn to be content with what we presently have…

1 Timothy 6:8 …For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

Hebrews 13:5 …Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

If we want to be saved eternally, we must learn to put

God above all else and set our minds on things above…

Colossians 3:2 …Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

CONCLUSION:

If we had two requests only–we could make no improvement

on the appeal made by the writer of Proverbs in our text…

He prayed for deliverance from moral impurity…
He asked for worldly goods only in moderation…

Proverbs 30:7 …Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): 8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches-Feed me with the food allotted to me; 9 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.

Schultz Lane

Church of Christ

Schultz Lane

Church of Christ

A Wise Request