"Just What I Need" 8-3-25

Overview

Just What I Need

When we pray "Give us this day our daily bread," it is easy to get stuck on that single petition and let it swallow up the rest of our prayer life. We confuse "daily bread" with the never-ending pursuit of more—a kind of Goldilocks search for the chair, the bowl, the bed that is "just right." But like Goldilocks, even when we find what seems to satisfy, the chair breaks, the food runs out, and the bed is outgrown. Satisfaction sought in the things of this world always leaves us still searching.

Agur's prayer in Proverbs 30:7-9 cuts through this restless cycle with two earnest requests for his whole life: "Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me." The first petition asks God to keep him in truth, echoing David's plea in Psalm 51:6 that the Lord would teach wisdom in the secret heart. The second asks God to keep him from two ditches: the ditch of riches, where pride tempts us to deny God and say "Who is the LORD?" (think of Pharaoh's hardened heart), and the ditch of poverty, where lack tempts us to steal, covet, or curse God's name. Either extreme drives the soul to seek satisfaction in the wrong place.

This raises the deeper question Agur's prayer presses on us: what do we actually need, as opposed to what we merely want? Regardless of age, place, or circumstance, our truest need is salvation from sin—and that is something we cannot produce for ourselves or receive from the world. It must come from outside us. It comes in Jesus Christ, who did not seek a bed that was "just right" but went to the hardness of the cross, who drank the cup of wrath so that we might drink the cup of the new covenant in His blood. As Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us, "by grace you have been saved... not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

So we can pray Agur's prayer with confidence, because it has already been answered in Christ. The truth we need is given to us in the waters of baptism, in the preached Word, and in the body and blood of the Lord's Supper. Rather than chasing a satisfaction the world cannot give, we are called to rest in the fullness already ours in Christ—and to say, with quiet confidence, "I have just what I need."

Transcript

If you would please open your Bibles to the Old Testament page 575, if you're using a 3s

Pue edition of the Bible, we're going to be in Proverbs, Chapter 30, Proverbs, Chapter 30. 11s

Before we turn or before we go to our text for today, I want to look at our Gospel, our 19s

gifts us, the Lord's Prayer. 29s

We say the Lord's Prayer all the time. 32s

If you don't say it for yourself or in your own prayer life on a daily basis every single 36s

week, you know you are going to pray the Lord's Prayer with your brothers and sisters here 42s

during service. 49s

But I want you to listen, listen to these petitions. 50s

Our Father-in-Haven hallowed be your name. 54s

Keep your name holy. 57s

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. 59s

Give us this day, our daily bread and it's this fourth petition. 64s

This fourth petition of give us this day, our daily bread where we tend to park ourselves. 71s

It's where we tend to get stuck and just spin and stay there and all of our prayers very easily 80s

become all encompassed by the fourth petition. 90s

Give us this day, our daily bread. 95s

But there's a mistaken identity that we have with daily bread and it leads us into what 99s

I want to refer to as the Goldilocks loop. 107s

We all know the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, the young child who is out in the 111s

woods and she comes upon a cabin. 117s

Thank goodness, the owners of the cabin, the bears are on a walk because she comes in 118s

and she starts testing things and she wants to eat and this one's too hot and this 124s

one's too cold. 131s

But all this bowl of porridge, this is just right and she wants to sit down and rest 132s

for a moment and there's one chair that's too big and one chair that's that's too hard 137s

and there's another chair that's just right but Gauly, she breaks it. 143s

And then she decides she wants a nap and so she goes and she tests the bed and there's 148s

one that's too firm and one that's too soft and then there's one that's just right 152s

and she falls asleep and one could say that her daily bread has been met. 158s

But what happens? 168s

What happens if the bears do not come home and wake her up and frighten her and she 171s

she goes off? 177s

Then she would wake up and she would still be searching. 179s

She would still be seeking out completion or satisfaction. 183s

But she wouldn't have a place to sit because well the chair broke. 189s

She wouldn't have any more food because she ate the portion she wanted. 192s

She wouldn't eventually have a bed because the young girl would grow and would outgrow 198s

baby bears bed. 204s

She would search and search for satisfaction but eventually she would find that the 207s

church was pointless, it was fruitless and she would be dissatisfied and she would not 215s

have what she thought she needed in our text for today. 222s

In our text for today we can read these words of Agar's prayer as a prayer of a Goldie 230s

what these words of this prayer lift up to us and before us goes past or beyond the satisfaction 245s

that Goldie locks and many of us search for and seek out in a daily basis. 253s

Look with me please at Proverbs chapter 30 verses 7 through the beginning of 8. 261s

Two things I ask of you do not deny them to me before I die. 267s

Remove far from me falsehood and lying give me neither poverty nor riches. 273s

In verse 7 that asking two things I ask of you do not deny them to me before I die. 281s

This is an earnest plea to the Lord. 289s

This is coming before the Lord asking with all seriousness with all earnestity begging for this to be 293s

prayer. It's not a prayer that's lifted up in those last moments but this is a prayer 302s

for Agar's life. This is a prayer that he's lifting up. Let this be my life. 308s

Now until my death and so he is he is praying for two things looking at verse 8. 315s

He's praying. Remove far from me falsehood and lying give me neither poverty nor riches. 324s

The first petition here that he lifts up is to not get sucked into falsehood and lying. 333s

Falsehood here can also be translated as vanity. 342s

So keep me from getting sucked into vanities. 348s

Keep me from getting sucked into falsehood from from halonus, from hypocrisy and really this 352s

Hurkins back to David's prayer in Psalm 51 verse 6 where he says to the Lord you desire truth 359s

in the inward being. Therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart teach me Lord. 368s

Teach me what is true. Show it to me and keep me in truth. 378s

Let me not get sucked into falsehood. Let me not fall for the vanities of this world. 386s

But keep me in the knowledge of what is true. Show it to me and lead me in that. 395s

And the beginning in truth then the beginning then becomes a middle state prayer. 405s

Keep me in truth. He prays in wisdom. Keep me in truth and give me neither poverty nor 414s

riches. Give me neither property nor riches. 422s

There are extremes in the social life that we can experience. Extreme wealth or riches and extreme 430s

poverty or porous and here Agar is saying in my life first make me wise to truth and hold 440s

me and keep me in that truth. Second don't let me fall to either one of these extremes. 449s

Keep me in my life in the middle. And why does he pray this? While looking at verse 457s

8 that last part of verse 8 he says, feed me with the food that I need or I shall be full 464s

and deny you and say, who is the Lord? Or I shall be poor and steal and perfane the name of my God. 471s

He's praying to be in the middle of both poverty and riches because he doesn't want to fall 483s

into either ditch. ditch number one that wealth that riches he knows that that can cause pride. 492s

He can seek out his own satisfaction by his own making. And when we become so prideful of who we are 504s

or what we have done we are tempted to fall into the ditch of denying God, of denying that we have 514s

any need of God and he want of God. Think of Pharaoh in Exodus. He was so powerful, so rich. 522s

He said, what do I need of God? Who is God? In our pride and our own self-chlorification, 532s

we too can be so built up of ourselves and providing for ourselves and glorifying ourselves 543s

that we too are tempted to say, yes, who needs God? Look at everything I've done for myself. 554s

Look at everything I've become in my own power, my own strength, my own goodness and worthiness. 562s

I don't need anyone but myself. And in fact, other people need me in their lives. 573s

That's ditch number one being so full of ourselves so rich in ourselves and what we have 587s

obtained this side of heaven that we deny God and who yet who he is and what he has done and how 597s

he has provided for us. ditch number two, or I shall be poor and still and profane the name of my God, 607s

agar praise that he would not be so poor, found in poverty that he would be tempted to steal, 620s

that he would be tempted to covet, tempted to be cursing God in his suffering. 629s

Why would God let this happen to me? Who is God that he wouldn't even care for me? 639s

Curseing the very name of God for my lack. And so agar, agar praise. 647s

He prays to be shown what truth is, what true wisdom is and he prays to be maintained in that 659s

truth and wisdom and then he prays, keep me keep me in a steady state. 667s

Keep me not searching after great wealth, keep me out of great poverty, 678s

not for his own physical comfort, not for his own mental well-being, 685s

but because on either end he knows that he will be tempted to either deny God or curse God. 690s

And he knows that that is not where he wants to be. Regardless, regardless of the ditch, 702s

that we may be tempted, regardless of the ditch of having so much 713s

that we deny God's work and hand in our lives, 722s

or tempted because we lack and have so little 727s

that we covet our neighbor or we steal or we curse our Lord, regardless of what ditch one may fall into, 735s

what is the end result? The end result is that we're seeking satisfaction and completion 746s

within the world and satisfaction and completion, 758s

it can't be found in the things of this world. It can't be found in and of and through the world. 767s

There's a lesson that my husband and I always 781s

chatted with our children about whenever it was the opportunity came up, we took the opportunity 786s

and I can't say always because I know I failed, but we took the opportunity when our kids would say 794s

I need a cookie or I need a new shirt. We took that opportunity to talk about need versus want. 802s

Do we need to eat yes? Do we want a cookie? Yes. Do we need to be clothed? Yes. 821s

Do we want to be clothed lavishly? Yes. And so we would talk about that need versus want. 832s

Goldilocks. Goldilocks entered into that house and we could say that she was seeking what she 845s

needed. She was seeking shelter. She was seeking to be fed. She was seeking rest and comfort. 853s

But what she's seeking out of need or what she's seeking out of want. Do we seek 862s

in the world for what we need or do we seek in the world for what we want? 870s

And when we really consider our lives and we pray these first words of Agar, 880s

remove from me falsehood and lying. Keep me in truth. Keep me and lead me in wisdom 888s

Lord. Then we can pose the question, what is it that we truly need? 896s

And regardless of age, regardless of race, regardless of gender, regardless of where we live, 907s

what time we live in, regardless of anything, what we need in our sin is saving. 915s

What we need as a whole is salvation and redemption. 931s

And salvation and redemption, we can look and we can search and we can even try to pinpoint 942s

the salvation that is just right. But if we're looking through the eyes of Goldilocks 951s

at the world around us to find the satisfaction for what we need or we look to ourselves to 961s

find the satisfaction and completeness of what we need for our sin. We're lost. We're lost in the woods. 971s

With Goldilocks, continuing to search and seek, but never finding. 984s

Because the salvation, the redemption, the satisfaction for our sin that we need, 996s

what we really need, comes from outside of ourselves. It's something that we cannot do for ourselves, 1005s

it's something that we cannot do for others. But it is what God alone can do and has done 1016s

for each and every one of us. The satisfaction made for our sin was made by God himself. 1026s

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity entering into creation. 1040s

Jesus Christ, not seeking out the comfort of a bed that is just right, but on his way, 1050s

seeking out the pain of the cross, suffering the too hard, the too harsh, the cruelty of the cross. 1059s

Taking upon himself the wrath of God, the punishment for your sin, for my sin, 1079s

tasting not the perfect just right bull of porridge, but instead drinking from the cup of wrath. 1089s

So that you and I will not have to drink from that cup. 1100s

Providing instead for us, the cup of his blood, the cup of the new covenant, through his blood. 1108s

Coming from without ourselves, we receive the word that tells us that Jesus Christ bore the 1121s

punishment for our sin, that the tomb is empty, the shelter, the shelter of the tomb is no longer needed, 1128s

because he has risen alive, living even today, seated at the right hand of the father. 1140s

And we know that we have the comfort of the shelter of his wings. As he gathers us into himself, 1150s

to tell you the wise words of truth, that you are forgiven, that you are loved, 1162s

that you are blessed not because of what you have done or will do, but because Jesus Christ loves you, 1170s

and has forgiven you. Salvation, redemption, satisfaction, completeness, 1177s

can only be found in Christ and Christ alone. Ephesians chapter 2 says that, by grace you have been 1186s

saved, it is not of your own doing. You don't get to boast in the riches of salvation of your 1194s

own making, but you get to boast in the salvation that is in Christ and Christ alone. 1204s

You are not dropped down to the poverty of your sin, but you are lifted up in the life 1213s

and the state of forgiveness through Christ and Christ alone. 1224s

We are called, we are called as redeemed children of the Lord, not to seek out satisfaction 1230s

or completeness in things of this world, because we will always be seeking and searching 1240s

and never satisfied. But we are called to live in truth, to live in the truth that God 1249s

shows us in our secret heart, that through his Holy Spirit enters into our ears as we hear we are 1262s

given, reaches down into our souls and stirs in us the truth of God's love for us. 1271s

Two things I ask of you, two things I ask of you, keep me in truth and give me what I need. 1285s

This prayer can be on all of our lips, and we know that the prayer has already been answered. 1296s

It is answered for you. The truth of Christ's love for you is known to you. 1305s

It is made known to you through the waters of baptism, it is made known to you through the word 1315s

preached, it is made known to you through the body and blood, the bread and the wine that we receive, 1321s

the truth of God's love for you is known. I pray that it rests within you, that it stirs 1328s

within you, that it transforms you, that you seek even more the fullness that you have in Christ 1339s

and Christ alone, because Christ and His love for you is unending, is unceasing, 1349s

and it allows us to say, I have just what I need. 1366s