I read in Proverbs 30:7-9 another great passage about life’s pleasant boundaries. The wisdom reads as follows as a request to God:
Two things I asked of You,
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,
That I may not be full and deny You and say
“Who is the Lord?”
Or that I not be in want and steal
And profane the name of my God.
I love that we can ask God for our portion–and not another’s–because God appoints what we have in a way that keeps us close to Him. Can I really request that God not give me too much? Because it would risk forgetting Him? Can I humbly ask for just what I need?
Who would ask to not be full? It seems strange to request just enough, but not too much, so the longing for God remains in that empty place.
In a world often set upon riches, I love reading a Proverb where someone asks to be saved from riches. Anything that might cause us to forget our need for God is something I, too, can pray God removes.
And I rejoice if life brings an empty place in my heart that’s reserved for my longing for Jesus.