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Daily Devotion: Proverbs 30:7-9

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Proverbs 30:7-9    "Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:  (8)  Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:  (9)  Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain."

It seems to me that this book of Proverbs was a lifetime collection of wisdom that Solomon had acquired by his own experiences. He refers to himself as a gatherer of wisdom and now it seems in these verses that he is of old age. In his lifetime, there is no doubt that he had been surrounded by both men of wisdom and others who were self-serving. I can only imagine that people who had come to him with requests had also fed him lies and vain things concerning himself. It seems the worst thing that anyone can do is to believe everything said about them - both good and bad.  We've already seen that pride goes before the fall. When a person pays attention to all the good things said about him, he begins to believe it. So, now as Solomon seems to be nearing death, he has been allowed to see through all the lies that had been told to him and all the empty things that had been said about him. There are only a few things that he now desires: "feed me with food convenient for me".  Give me only that which is needed for my body and mind to perform properly.

The Scriptures are filled with warnings that people tend to forget God when they become rich. One of the verses in Deuteronomy that has stayed with me for many years now, states "But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then HE FORSOOK GOD which made him, and LIGHTLY ESTEEMED the Rock of his salvation." (Deuteronomy 32:15) After all these years of trying to fill his life with stuff, Solomon now realized that an overabundance of things would only take him away from God. "Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord?"  Just as Solomon, I want to be on guard that I never place my dependence upon anyone or anything other than my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

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