Daily Devotions

Proverbs 30:8

"Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me."

The book of Proverbs is often overlooked by disciples today, yet it is full of short, piercing insights into how to live wisely before God. Here, in a single verse, we find a prayer worth repeating often: a prayer for honesty, humility, and contentment.

Clovis Chappell, in his book Feminine Faces, tells a haunting story from the excavations of Pompeii. When the volcanic ashes of Mount Vesuvius were cleared, the body of a woman was discovered. Her feet were turned toward the city gate—the way of escape—but her arms were stretched backward, fingers clutching for a small bag of pearls. Death was pressing in, yet she could not release her grasp. Chappell wrote: “Though death was hot at her heels and life was beckoning to her beyond the city gates, she could not shake off their spell... But it was not the eruption of Vesuvius that made her love pearls more than life. It only froze her in this attitude of greed.”

This is the danger Proverbs warns us against. Wealth can captivate, even enslave. Poverty, on the other hand, can drive us into desperation. Both extremes carry dangers. And so the prayer wisely asks God: “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but only my daily bread.”

It echoes Jesus’ own teaching in the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.” It is a prayer of sufficiency—not too little, not too much, but enough. Enough to meet our needs, to keep us humble, and to remind us that our security rests not in possessions, but in God’s faithful provision.

Prayer

Generous Father,
Thank You for the blessings You have poured into my life.
Protect me from falsehood and dishonesty in thought, word, and deed.
Guard me from the snares of greed and the despair of poverty.
Teach me to be content with what You provide,
trusting You daily for the food and strength I need.
May my heart rest in gratitude,
and may my life reflect Your generosity to others.
Through Christ my Lord,
Amen.