There is some question as to who this person is. Some think that it is Solomon himself using another name as he does in chapter 31. Others think that it was a person that Solomon greatly admired because of the wisdom of his words. Still others think that these two chapters may have been the proverbs of Hezekiah, which he had copied out. However who ever it was is no concern of ours, as we know that the Holy Spirit inspired these words. What impressed them on my mind was the comment of an elderly English brother. He went to a private school in his boyhood days, and it was the practice of each boy in turn, to suggest something as a motto for the class for each day. He said that one boy suggested this passage, and the wisdom of its words fixed themselves on his mind, and they endured right on to old age. He commented that his suggested motto was very poor by comparison; it was "Penny wise-Pound foolish".

This prayer has been much on my mind during the past few days, hence this paper. I have read several things and even a small book on the prayer of Jabez, (1 Chronicles 4:9-10). Some have even exhorted believers to use of the prayer of Jabez as a kind of lucky charm, and to daily repeat that prayer as a means of getting wealth. This is tied up with the false doctrine of the ‘prosperity gospel’, and only ministers to the covetous nature of the flesh.

However the prayer of Agur cannot be twisted in such a way, but is very sound in it’s request. He begins his dissertation by confessing his great lack of wisdom. It is strange that the more wisdom a person has, the less wisdom they realise that they have. Wisdom according to the use that unregenerate men make of it; tends to puff up, or to inflate the person that thinks they possess it. So Solomon tells us that the sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men that can answer. discreetly. (Darby, Proverbs 26:16). It is only when a man realises that he lacks wisdom that he will turn to the Fount of all wisdom, and ask of God. James 1:5. Thus it was that Agur realised his utter dependence upon God, and his great lack of wisdom. This is the wisdom that lay behind his prayer. He wanted to live for God’s glory, and this caused him to pray as he did.

After protesting his ignorance in verse 3, Agur goes on to expound upon the greatness of God in verse 4. All these things lay the ground for his prayer and we would do well to take account of them. It must be offensive to the Most High, when His children act and ask as if they are wiser than Him. Abraham, who is called ‘the friend of God’, several times in the Bible, was very humble when interceding on behalf of Sodom, and of Lot. That remarkable man had a very real sense of the greatness of God, and of his own meanness and insignificance. Genesis 18:27. He sets an example for us that we might well emulate.

There are some that emphasise what they call ‘our authority’ in prayer. As if we poor mortal men have the right to tell the Immortal, Invisible only Wise God what He must do! While it is true that God is our Heavenly Father, and that we are his children, by virtue of the New Birth, and His sons by adoption. It is both true and desirable that we should enjoy an intimate relationship with Him, yet we must always remember who He is, and must never in our impatience try to advise, or to tell Him what to do in any matter. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth, and He will not be told by us what He must, or even should do.

In wondrous grace His Holy Spirit indwells us, and He is able to attune our wills so that they are in accord with the will of God. Though often we do not know what to pray for as is fitting, yet we do have the assurance that if we ask according to His will we know that He hears us, and that we have the petition whatever it is that we ask. 1 John 5:14-15. Yet we must always be conscious of our weakness, and our inability to understand what the will of God is in any matter. We are challenged in Romans 11:34-35, with the words, "Who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? These challenging statements are very humbling to us, and should make us to be very humble. It is true as God said through His prophet, that His ways and His thoughts are so much higher than ours. Isaiah 55:8-9. It is the height of both ignorance, and of arrogance to imagine that we can advise God what He must do in any situation.

Yet God our Heavenly Father encourages us to ask, but always to ask according to His will. If we allow him to control our thoughts and our lives, our desires, the Holy Spirit who dwells in us will guide and lead us to ask according to His will.

Agur’s soul was filled with an awesome sense of the greatness of God. He dwells in the heavens, and says, "Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool", Isaiah 66:1. He gathers the wind in His fists. He has control of what can be very damaging, or else can be a blessing to us. He binds the waters in a garment, and hath established the ends of the earth. He asks the question "What is His name, and what is His Son’s name?" We know the answer to that question, because He is our heavenly Father, and His Son, (our Lord Jesus Christ), is our Saviour.

We can trust that word with absolute confidence. He is our shield and protector as we put our trust in Him. His word is pure and will never deceive or misguide us. It alone must be the final arbiter to every dispute, the sure and only guide to faith and practice. Let us beware of adding to it, lest we come under His rebuke, and be found to be liars. One shudders when one thinks of the many true believers that have believed Satan’s lie, and have accepted and practiced that which is not only not in God’s word, but is contrary to it.

Now we come to the prayer of Agur itself, and it is very brief and direct. This prayer is in accord with the instructions given by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 5:1-2. But there is weight and pith in these requests. He pleads "Deny them not to me before I die". That is it was his heart’s desire that they might be fulfilled in him right here and now. Too often we put things off until after we die. We know that we will be both perfect and absolutely holy then; we will be like Christ, for we will see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2. But it is the desire of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us that we might be conformed to the image of Christ now. Then we might ask, what are these two things?

1). Remove far from me vanity and lies. He did not wish to be a hypocrite neither he did he wish to be occupied with the vain things connected with this world and its system. It would do us good to read the first two chapters of Ecclesiastes, where the constant refrain is "vanity of vanities, all is vanity and pursuit of the wind". These things are so attractive to the flesh, but they have no substance, they do not last. "The world passes away and the lust thereof." 1 John 2:17.

Lies are not only words of untruthfulness, but even this should be the desire of our hearts, to always speak the truth. It is normal to expect that people should be able to confidently rely of what we say. It should always be the truth. Lies can also be seen in the way that we live. Not only what we say, but also how we live. There is so much hypocrisy about today, people saying things that are not true. They say one thing, and live another. Let us also pray this prayer constantly!

Every time we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we take a vow. That is we vow that we will be true to the Lord’s death, until He comes. Thus we re-confirm the vow that we took when we were baptised by immersion. In that act of profession we said; "I have died to this world. I hereby accept Christ’s death as mine. I am now buried with Him by baptism unto death." Then when we came up out of the water we said, "I am now going to walk in the new power of Christ’s resurrection life!" But let me ask you, and let me ask myself, have I been true to that profession? If not; then I am living a lie. If after partaking of the Lord’s Supper, when the meeting ends I go out into the world and once more become involved in its pleasures, its sports, and its sins, then I am living a lie. Let us pray, "Remove far from me, Vanity and lies!"

2). Give me neither poverty nor riches, but feed me with food convenient for me. (Or as another translation says) "Feed me with the bread of my daily need". This fits in with what the Lord taught His disciples to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread", Matthew 6:11.This is totally different to the teaching of many, in the so called ‘Doctrine of Prosperity’, where believers are taught that they deserve an abundance of riches, and property etc. That if they give God $10.00, He will give them a $100.00.

It is God’s intention that we should live a contented life of daily dependence upon Him. This is the kind of life that the Lord Jesus and His Apostles lived. Though our Saviour was the Creator of everything, yet He became poorer than the poorest. When He needed a coin to teach a lesson, He said, "Show me a coin". This makes it plain that He did not have a coin in His pocket. When Peter (foolishly) committed Him to pay the temple tax, Jesus told him to go to the sea and cast in a hook. He was to take the first fish that came up, and in its mouth he would find a coin that would pay the tax demanded of both He and Peter. Though He used His divine power to multiply the bread and the fish to feed a multitude of five thousand, and of four thousand, yet He would not use that divine power to supply the needs of those that He was teaching to depend upon God for their daily needs, they were to trust God to supply those needs, just as He did.

The Apostle Paul also sets us a good example when he tells us what our attitude to material things. He says, "Having food and raiment let us be content with these". 1 Timothy 6:8. He also tells us of his own attitude to such things in Philippians 4:10-13. Though doubtless he could have used his training as a lawyer to earn large sums of money, yet he was content to live a life of daily trust in his Heavenly Father. His example would put many to shame today, especially those millionaires that pose as the servants of God, and deceive others into giving them millions of money.

The other Apostles are an example to us also. When the Gospel began to be preached by them after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, many wealthy Jews who had been saved sold their possessions and laid the money at the feet of the Apostles. However Peter and John did not touch any of this, because when accosted by the lame beggar in Acts chapter three, Peter could say to him, "Silver and gold have I none".

This prayer is in complete accord with the teachings of Christ. He constantly warned against lusting after material things. Take as an example what He says in Matthew 6:25-34, where He warns us against having anxious care about material things. He tells us that these are the things that the Gentiles seek after. Never did He encourage the covetousness of the human heart, as do the big ‘Faith preachers’ of today. Material things tend to rob us of any sense of the need of daily dependence upon God. Take as an example the attitude of the rich fool in Luke 12:20, where God rebukes him. In Luke 16:10-14 the Lord Jesus teaches us to be faithful in the way that we handle money, and exhorts us to use it for the good and blessing of others. In the Parable of the sower he tells us how that riches, along with the cares of this life and other things, can make the word of God unfruitful in our lives

LEST I BE FULL AND DENY THEE.

Agur understood his own weakness. He realised that if he had abundance, he would be in danger of becoming self-confident, then by his attitude he may deny that what he had came from God, but was instead the fruit of his own industry.

Riches are a great danger to us all, and those that desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare. Those that set their hearts on money, "have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows". May God save us from this trap! On the other hand poverty can be a trap also, because the covetous nature of the human heart may lead a poor person to steal from others, and thus bring dishonour on the precious name that we are to bear in testimony to others.

Riches also bring with them great responsibilities, to use what the Lord may entrust to us for His glory, and for the blessing of others. Either in the relief of need, or in the spread of the Gospel. Let us use what the Lord may put into our hands to make, friends. Such as will feel a sense of gratitude towards us, for making it possible for the Gospel of salvation to reach them. If they are called home to glory before us, they will then be waiting for us to receive us into the eternal mansions of rest and blessing!

Let us always remember that what we may possess does not belong to us, but to the Lord. We are only stewards, those that handle the goods belonging to another. This will save us from many a mistake, if we keep it constantly in our minds. Finally we shall have to give an account to Him of what we have done with that which belongs to Him.

May the Lord help us to see the wisdom of the prayer of Agur, and learn to put these desires into effect in our own lives! I would not suggest (as some have done with the prayer of Jabez), that we take it up and repeat it every day as a parrot would, but rather that we may do as suggested above; that we may learn the wisdom of his requests, and make the same desires a part of our daily prayer life.

May He bless you all, my brothers and sisters and help us each one to be able to live for His glory!