Yesterday, after the kids were gone and the shopping was done I took a lovely 4 hour nap. AH, it was so nice. I work up, messed around on facebook, wrote a letter, and called John at midnight (he turns 22 today). Needless to say, after such a long nap so late in the day I wasn't tired enough to sleep when it came time for bed.
I have been reading through Proverbs and thought my awake-ness was a good reason to have an extended quiet time away from the chaos of the week. I read Proverbs 30. Verses 7-9 really stood out to me. Fun fact, this is the only section of all of proverbs that is a prayer.
"Two things I ask of you;
deny them not 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 the name of my God."
-Prov. 30:7-9 (ESV)
After reading this I remembered hearing pastor and author Francis Chan speak to these verses in a youtube clip. I was able to find it again. Here it is:
As I go to college in pursuit of a quality degree, work, save my money, and spend it by my choosing I find these verses really hard to pray. I want to save and not have to worry about paying bills and such, but just have the resources there waiting.
Then I look at how God is a God of provision. He will give us what we need. "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"(Matt 6:23). Jesus even teaches us to pray like this in Matthew 6:11, "Give us this day our daily bread." Not our yearly bread or lifetime supply of bread, but daily. Then I look at Deuteronomy 8:12-15 and 23:15 and how easily the Israelites forgot about God when there was an abundance.
Where is the balance between being smart with the blessings God has already provided and living in the true heat behind Proverbs 30? Honestly, I have no idea. But I know that I do desire God more than riches and that He will provide for all my needs. Where knowledge takes my life I guess we will wait and see what God has in store.
Please comment. I would like to hear other people's perspectives.
In His Grip,
Bridget
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this is GREAT bee! loved the thoughts... i have never considered this before, but it makes so much sense! and as for how to do it, i also don't know! but definitely something to be thinking and praying about... even praying that God would give us the desire for this to be our prayer! thanks for the thoughts. hope your loving life in DC in your fish pants! :) love you!
ReplyDeleteHey - 2nd attempt to leave you a msg. Strong word written so late at night! Missing you ... just wrote a snail mail letter. Love from MN...M
ReplyDeleteBridget - here is a post from Tim...there were technical difficulties...
ReplyDeleteHey Bridget, the fact you're even dealing with this topic at your age is very impressive to me. You're certainly becoming a wise Saint much sooner in life than I.
It's interesting to me you throw out this question as my business mentor and I were just discussing this. I tend to try to control every area of my life, especially my business. Some would say as CEO (or father, husband, civic organization President, etc.), that's my role. I'm beginning to learn I have little control over many things and that the more I rely on my abilities, the less room I leave for God to act in whatever aspect of my business or other areas of my life He's ready to influence. God rarely forces Himself on us, but waits for our humble spirit to seek Him first, asking for His will to be done in whatever particular area is concerning us at the time, and then show us what we need to be focused on for the moment.
I believe the talents/gifts He has given us can then be best utilized after He's been allowed to act or influence our spirit so the actions or decisions we take are rooted in His will, not our narrowly minded perspective alone.
Sorry for getting so deep, but I also believe there's a purpose for me having read this blog, as a reinforcement to me, and possible inspiration to anyone else interested.
Tim K.