Agur’s Prayer for a Blessed Life

by Chris Simmons

Proverbs chapter 30 records “the words of Agur the son of Jakeh.” Little is known about Agur. His name simply means “the collector.” Details are simply not available, but God has ensured that this text and the prayer found in verses 7-9 is available for our study and meditation as what we see in this prayer is so critical to our life here on earth. That prayer is this: “Two things I asked of Thee, do not refuse me before I die: keep deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny Thee and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God.” What can we, and should we, learn from this prayer as we strive to live lives pleasing to God? There are two main points found in Agur’s prayer:

Part 1 - A focus on truth and the avoidance of all deceit. “Keep deception and lies far from me” is the cry and plea of Agur. The warnings in God’s word abound. “Do not be deceived” (James 1:16; Galatians 6:7; I Corinthians 6:9). “Let no one deceive you” (I John 3:7). “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception” (Colossians 2:8). We are to encourage one another lest we be “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).

On the contrary, if we are to keep “deception and lies far from” ourselves, we must learn to love truth and immerse ourselves in it. All prayers include personal responsibility. Our personal responsibility in keeping deception far from us is to keep ourselves far from all possible sources and influences of deception. We need to avoid it like the plague and seek to immerse ourselves in known sources of truth.

The only way we’ll be successful in meeting this personal responsibility is if we have a love and passion for truth. We’re in serious spiritual trouble if we lack such a love for truth as Paul wrote in II Thessalonians 2:9-12. If we love the truth, want the truth, and diligently seek for the truth, God has promised that we will find it (Matthew 7:7-9). If we insist on wanting a lie so we can pursue our lusts and desires, God allows us to find the error that we seek.

Curiously, we see that some actually seek deception. Psalms 4:2, “O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception?” Some like King Ahab have no desire for truth and seek out those who will instead tell them what they want to hear (I Kings 22;7-8). If we’re not actively pursuing truth, deceit will undoubtedly overtake us. We need to consistently and fervently pray that “deception and lies” will be kept far from us and that we will persist in stoking our fire for truth.

Part 2 - The second part of the prayer is to have the proper perspective on the material things of this life. Agur saw danger in two extremes, having too much and not having enough and his prayer was that he avoids the temptations that come with both. This is not a prayer for or against material goods, but a prayer recognizing the temptations that afflict us from either side. The vast majority of us don’t go through life with exactly what we need and so it would behoove us to be aware of the spiritual dangers Agur sought to avoid.

The danger of having too much. Agur indicates his concern with the possibility of having too much is that his heart will turn from Him who blessed him richly to the blessings themselves and forget God. The scriptures teach, and a most cursory review of human history will confirm, that man typically doesn’t handle prosperity very well at all. Our Creator knows this and He warned His people before they came into the promised land that they would be richly blessed and that they needed to “watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Deuteronomy 6:10-12; cf. 8:6-20).

The danger is to take our focus off God and give it to the blessings He has bestowed on us. The danger is in no longer feeling that we depend on God – that we’re self-sufficient. The danger is in loving money and our possessions rather than Him who gave them to us. Historically, man has not shown the ability to effectively deal with prosperity. Greed is an all-consuming disease that has wreaked havoc on civilizations throughout history and is our modern-day idol (Colossians 3:5). Jesus simply warns us, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed” (Luke 12:15).

The challenge is, how do we stay spiritually hungry and keep up our spiritual appetite when we have more than we need? Solomon wrote in Proverbs 27:7, “A sated man loathes honey, but to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet.” That proverb is true in the physical sense but it is also true that a “sated man” in terms of physical blessings will often loathe the spiritual honey found in God’s word. The “sated man” finds himself needing nothing. That was true of the Laodiceans (“I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” Revelation 3:17) and we can easily allow it to happen to us today.

The danger of having too little. The concern is that when we lack the necessities of life, we might be tempted to forsake our moral and ethical duties to obtain what we feel we need. We might feel that Christians don’t need to be reminded that stealing is wrong, but the inspired apostle Paul saw the need to address the issue with the brethren in Ephesus. “Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need” (Ephesians 4:28).

Really, underneath this temptation lies a lack of faith in God to provide. If we know that He promised to add to our lives “all these things” (Matthew 6:33) if we seek Him first, all that remains is for us to truly believe that and demonstrate that faith in our lives. Jesus states that our “Heavenly Father knows that we need all these things” (verse 32). If we trust Him as we should, we don’t need to worry about what we don’t have, but rather we can actually be liberal with what we do have for His sake.

What Agur prayed for was what he needed. He asked God for “my portion.” Jesus taught us to pray for “our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) – that is, that “portion” of physical blessings we need each and every day. What God wants from us is to put our security in Him. What we’re tempted to do is put our security in ourselves and the blessings themselves. Retirement plans are not sinful in and of themselves but when we no longer look to God to provide our bread and feel that we ourselves control our own destiny through our 401(k) plan or retirement accounts, we have departed from God’s plan.

If we learn to be content with the physical blessings of life and maintain a passion for truth we will indeed be blessed. May we pray that truth will be our passion and that we will maintain a proper perspective for the things of this life.