29 Jun No Lesser of These Two Evils

Almost every election season we hear people say, “I will choose the lesser of two evils.” They mean that they don’t care for either candidate but will choose the one they consider less objectionable. Choosing between two evils means that either way, you’re choosing evil. Proverbs 30 cautions us that the same thing is true about poverty and wealth.

Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. Proverbs 30:8-10 (NIV)

Many people pray that God would keep them or deliver them from poverty, but how many people pray that God would not make them wealthy?  It’s likely that most people would consider stealing to be the greater of the two evils here. The author of Proverbs 30 tells us there is no lesser evil. The author is identified as Agur. We don’t know who he was and he is mentioned nowhere else in scripture. Some scholars believe that Agur may be a pseudonym of King Solomon.

If that’s true, Solomon knew well the danger of great wealth causing someone to sin. After a strong start as king, Solomon let his unprecedented wealth lead him to all kinds of sin. For a modern example, consider the pain winning the lottery has caused some people. Millions of people each week dream of winning millions or even billions of dollars. However, many lottery winners have endings that are far from fairy tales. You can read some of those stories here. I’m guessing millions of people asked God to give them a winning lottery ticket. How many believers ask God to give them just what they need? That’s exactly what Agur is praying for.

I have been guilty (more than once) of asking God for more money than we need for Samaritan’s Heart Mission church; prayers fueled by daydreams of what the ministry could become with huge amounts of money. Our gracious God responded by providing…just what we needed. Tara-Leigh Cobble of the Bible Recap makes this observation:

Agur asks God for two things: keep him honest and from sin. He knows the human heart well enough to know that blessings and prosperity can lead people to disregard God, forgetting our need for Him, while poverty can lead to despair and sin. It’s easy to view the latter as the worst kind of sin, the shinier option is that you become so wealthy that you forget God. Argur points out they are both sins.

God saved me from the sin that comes with option B by denying it. This passage reinforces the lesson God taught me directly: asking or desiring more than we need is as sinful as stealing when we do not have enough.

Jesus reinforced this point when He taught His disciples to ask God the Father for “their daily bread,” and nothing more. I pray that this passage does not discourage you, but rather that it encourages you. God hears your prayers and answers your prayers and He knows exactly what you need. Start asking for that, and He just might amaze you!

Pastor Jerry Bader