Tevye (Fiddler On The Roof), speaking to God:
“Dear God, you made many, many poor people. I realize, of course, it’s no shame to be poor. But it’s no great honor either. So what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune? (Cue the song, “If I were a Rich Man.”) I really like Tevye, always weighing things out in discussion with God throughout the routine chores of his life.

 

Maybe at some point in your life, you’ve asked yourself the same question: Would it be so terrible if had a small fortune? Quickly, we start to imagine what we could do with such treasure at our disposal.

 

Recorded in Proverbs 30 is the request of one man, “Agur, son of Jakeh.” Here’s what he asked for:

“Two things I ask of you, Lord;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God. (V7-9)

 

The prayer of Agur was a lot different from the prayer of the man Jabez. Whereas Jabez asked for comfort and wealth, Agur asked for a pure heart, to be free of falsehood and lies and full of integrity. And he asked to neither too rich nor too poor. He longed neither after fortune or fame but simply that his life would honor God. What if we began each day with such a prayer, asking God to open our eyes and provide for us only in ways that would honor him. “Above all else, Lord, show me how to best honor you today!”

 

I wonder the same thing about our health and happiness. We all want more of both. It’s wonderful to be filled with happiness and to celebrate the joy of a healthy life! But as Agur discovered about riches, exceedingly abundant health can make us dull to the pain of those around us, to take for granted the serene fulfillment of breathing a clear breath without coughing, and to forget how very much we need God. And isn’t it true also that when we fall too chronically ill or unhappy, we find our focusing so much on our pain and sorrow that we lose sight of God’s grace? When pain and sorrow fill up every inch of space in our lives, they leave precious little room for the work of God’s grace.

 

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 8, “We want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.” He says they gave out of their severe trials and extreme poverty. “They gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability.” (V 3) It’s a message my dear Tevye missed: how to give out of severe trial, extreme poverty, even above his ability. It’s a message we should not want to miss either.

 

But how did these suffering and poor people give so abundantly? How did they find joy in the midst of their sorrows and suffering? I think we find a clue in verse 5: “And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord.”

 

Before they gave to others, before they looked to themselves, before they planned their daily agenda – they gave themselves first to the Lord.

 

You’ve probably noticed that if you serve yourself and all your “needs” first, there isn’t enough time, energy, or other treasures to give out to others. But when we give our first daily minutes to God, the first check of our payroll, the first energies of our days off, we discover the abundance of God’s grace for all else.

 

So as you go to God in prayer today, tomorrow, and each day, and ask “two things I ask of you Lord…”

 

Let one of them be to honor God in whatever you do and all you ask.