Instead of “more, more, more,”...

We live in a world where we are taught to resist “contentment.” If you look at the world around us, there are constant messages that reinforce a drive to acquire and accomplish more and more and more, to the point where we can become frustrated and ask the question, "When is enough, enough?"

I was praying with a friend the other day, and he expressed this frustration. He said, "My life is so rich. I'm so blessed, and I want to be content, but I'm just not."

The Bible says that godliness with contentment is great gain (see 1 Timothy 6:6), but we often spend a lot of time focusing on the godly part and completely ignore the contentment part of that command. 

friend, when you aren't feeling content with all that God has given you, you need to ask for help.

Let me share with you an incredible prayer from an obscure part of the book of Proverbs. This is known as the prayer of Agur. Let the words of it soak into your soul right now, as Agur prays:

“Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; 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 dishonor the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:7-9, NIV) 

Agur's prayer, which is the only prayer in the book of Proverbs, is easy to miss but packs incredible wisdom for those of us who are struggling with contentment. Agur prays with the end in mind. He knows that eventually his life will come to a close and that he won't be able to take anything with him. As he waits for that day, he asks God to clear a path for him without any real or potential hindrances to what it means to follow God. He asks that falsehood and lying, riches and poverty, be taken out of his way so that he can be content with God's truth and God's provision.

I believe the lesson here is simple: we need to pray that God would keep us from the lie that riches are going to satisfy!  

Instead of praying the prayer of "more and more and more," we should pray the prayer of "enough"—just enough so that I don't disown God or dishonor him with my actions.

Let’s pray that prayer, in power, today… Thanking God that when we don’t know what to pray about contentment, God has given us a prayer!

Never forget, my friend, you are a miracle.