"Lord, I don't ask that I should win, but please, please don't let me finish behind Akabusi."
Enough
Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, “Who is the LORD?” Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God. Proverbs 30:8-9The book of Proverbs consists of a series of pithy sayings of wisdom. The writer asks never to have too much and never too little as he sees temptations in both extremes. Realistically most of us are not in the category of being in poverty and being temped to steal. The challenge for us is making sure that material possessions do not lead us away from God.
This also begs the question: how do we know when we have enough? By the standards of those around me, I am not rich. By the standards of much of the world’s population, I am. The line in the Lord’s Prayer “Give us today our daily bread” has a whole different meaning for someone who is hungry compared to someone with money in the bank and a fridge and freezer full of food. For those of us in the latter category it is easy to forget that we depend on God.
While we may not actually disown the Lord as the writer fears we are without doubt less aware of what he has done and provided for us.
Let us take a moment to thank God for all he has given us – including what we earn through the talents he has given us – and not just take it for granted.