Upon winning $314 million in a 2002 lottery, a happy business owner
expressed noble desires. He wanted to start a charitable foundation, put
laid-off workers back on the job, and do nice things for his family. Already
wealthy, he told reporters the big win wouldn’t change him.
A few years later, a follow-up article described a different outcome.
Since winning the biggest of all lotteries, the man had run into legal
problems, lost his personal reputation, and gambled away all of his money.
A thoughtful man by the name of Agur wrote words that anticipate such
heartbreak. Brought low by the awareness of his own natural inclinations (Prov.
30:2-3), Agur saw the dangers of having too much or too little. So he prayed,
“Give me neither poverty nor riches—feed me with the food allotted to 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” (vv.8-9).
Agur saw the special challenges that come both with wealth and poverty,
but also with our own tendencies. Each gives us reason for caution. Together
they show our need for the One who taught us to pray, “Give us this day our
daily bread.”
Discontentment makes rich people poor, while contentment makes poor people rich. (RBC)
