THEME: BREAD OR CRUMBS?
Memorise:
Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Proverb 30:8
Read: Proverb 30:7-9
3:7 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
3:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
3:9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
Message:
What you get from God depends on how contented or dissatisfied you are. While some people ask nothing from the Almighty God who has all things and who can do all things, some others ask for crumbs. Your desire and request go a long way in determining what you get in life. In Matthew 15:21-28, when the woman whose daughter was tormented by demons met the Lord, all she asked for was crumbs:
“And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Matthew 15:27
Even today, after Jesus had said that the children of the Kingdom are meant to eat at God’s table, many of these children still prefer crumbs that fall from the Master’s table (Luke 12:32, Matthew 15:26). Where is your focus: the table or crumbs?
Similarly, there is a correlation between your desire and your trust in God. If you really have faith in God, you will be able to ask big. The Bible says those who know their God shall do exploits (Daniel 11:32). In other words, when you know little or nothing about God, when asked to make a request, you will be afraid of asking for too much, and so you will be confined to asking for so little. However, when you know how inexhaustible the resources of God are, it will stir up courage in your heart to ask for big, great and impossible things. Therefore, if you are asking for a used car, a tiny rented apartment or a job that can barely take you away from starvation, it is very possible that you do not know or trust God enough. In today’s Bible reading, Agur made a very humble request. He asked for neither poverty nor wealth. He feared poverty, lest he might be tempted to steal; and he also feared wealth, lest he deny God. Just enough was what he asked for. Using the children of Israel as a model of God’s plan for your life, you will observe that God took them from the wilderness, where they had Manna that was just enough for each day, to a land flowing with milk and honey, where they had more than enough (Exodus 16:15-19, Deuteronomy 6:10-11, Joshua 5:12). Just enough might mean not having reserves to take care of emergencies. That means, in an emergency, you may be forced to go cap in hand borrowing. Are you asking for little in consideration of others who are also asking God for the same thing? You can never exhaust God’s resources. Ask big and stop limiting yourself!
Action Point:
Ask God for something really big that only He can do for you.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Acts 16-17
Jeremiah 38:1-13
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 10: THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS
1. There shall be showers of blessing:
This is the promise of love;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
Sent from the Saviour above.
Refrain:
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy-drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.
2. There shall be showers of blessing,
Precious reviving again;
Over the hills and the valleys,
Sound of abundance of rain.
[Refrain]
3. There shall be showers of blessing;
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come, and now honour Thy Word.
[Refrain]
4. There shall be showers of blessing:
Oh, that today they might fall,
Now as to God we’re confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call!
[Refrain]
5. There shall be showers of blessing,
If we but trust and obey;
There shall be seasons refreshing,
If we let God have His way.
[Refrain]
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