Proverbs 30

Proverbs 30 & 31 are considered the "Appendix" of Proverbs, and you will notice they have a different kind of writing style.

Proverbs 30 holds the Sayings of Agur. According to CrossMap.com, "Agur was a man of secular learning and did not consider himself a spiritual man, as he had not learned godly Wisdom; yet, he was a man who was perceptive about the things of God. He first declares that he is ignorant and stupid, as he does not have the knowledge of holy things. He considers all of his secular education as nothing compared to the knowledge of God. This man may not have not a spiritual education, but he did have the sense to ask the right questions, and by reading this entire chapter we find he was a man of spiritual perception."

Click here to read all of Proverbs 30.

⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.

⁹ 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.

I know when I am given much I think I don't need the Lord.

²⁰ "This is the way of an adulteress:
She eats and wipes her mouth
and says, 'I've done nothing wrong.'

This is painful to read.

²⁴ "Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:

²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;

This time of year in San Diego (hot, dry heat getting up to 100), the ants come marching one by one inside houses. And they're looking for water! It's taken me 5 years of living here to get used to this. It's unreal-they are so strong, SO organized. No wonder scripture points them out.

³² "If you have played the fool and exalted yourself,
or if you have planned evil,
clap your hand over your mouth!

³³ For as churning the milk produces butter,
and as twisting the nose produces blood,
so stirring up anger produces strife."

Lord, help me clap my hand over my mouth!