"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 30:8-9

Of all the readings, this is the one I didn't want to post, but the one that challenges me the most.  In our culture, while we recognize the evils of poverty and destitution, and we fight against it, we don't complain too much about wealth (with the exception perhaps of corporate greed).  Honestly, the writer of this Proverb doesn't represent my personal prayer, though maybe that shows the work I have yet to do.  Mine is more like, "Keep falsehood and lies far from me and do not give me poverty, Lord.  Instead, go ahead and test me with wealth--  I'm sure I can handle it."  God has yet to answer my prayer, but a day has not gone by that God hasn't provided me food to eat.  Maybe I need to change my prayer to the one in this Proverb, adding "thank you" to the beginning of it.

Today's readings:  Nahum 1:1-3:19; Revelation 8:1-13; Psalm 136:1-26; Proverbs 30:7-9