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.”
