A Prayer for an Ordinary Portion

Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

Proverbs 30:8

Read Proverbs 30. Focus on verses 1 through 9. Agur asks for something many of us would hesitate to request. He asks God for neither poverty nor riches. His prayer does not aim at having the most. It aims at remaining faithful with what he has. The chapter begins with humility about human understanding. Agur recognizes that he cannot master the God who gathers the wind, binds the waters, and establishes the earth. Before he asks for his portion, he acknowledges the difference between his own limits and God's greatness. Then he asks to be kept from falsehood and fed with the food appropriate to his need. The older wording “convenient for me” means a suitable or allotted portion. It is a prayer for provision that serves a faithful life. Agur names dangers on both sides. Fullness could make him deny his need for the Lord. Destitution could tempt him to steal and dishonor God's name. He is not saying poor people are dishonest or wealthy people cannot love God. He is naming his own vulnerability before the conditions that might expose it. There is unusual honesty in that request. We often tell God what we want while avoiding what receiving it might do to us. Agur includes his character in the prayer. He wants provision, but he also wants to remain a person who remembers the Provider. This is especially tender for someone living with financial pressure. The prayer does not romanticize lack. Food, security, and the ability to meet responsibilities matter. Asking for enough is a serious request, and receiving help is not a failure of faith. It also offers an examination for the comfortable person. Has sufficiency become forgetfulness? Do we still notice our dependence, or have resources made gratitude feel optional? A full cupboard can quietly become a story about our own self sufficiency. Try imagining a day received as a portion rather than evaluated as a comparison. There is food to prepare, work to do, a person to care for, and some limit you cannot remove. Gratitude need not deny the unmet need. It can recognize what has been given while continuing to ask for what is lacking. Agur's prayer makes room for a humble kind of abundance, enough provision to live faithfully and enough remembrance to know whom to thank. We can bring both our needs and our vulnerabilities into the same honest conversation with God. Put It into Practice Name today's provision and today's unmet need in the same prayer. Receive appropriate help where needed, and share something available to you without pretending your resources are unlimited.

What condition, scarcity or comfort, most tempts you to forget how you want to live before God?

Giver of daily bread, provide what I need and keep me truthful about my dependence on You. Protect me from desperation that makes wrongdoing attractive and comfort that makes gratitude disappear. Teach me to receive today's portion with faith. Amen.