May Reading from The Message

What differentiates a believer and a skeptic? How do we act and live out our lives when we submit to God as our master instead of ourselves? In Proverbs 30 we see this explored…

GOD? WHO NEEDS HIM?

1-2 The skeptic swore, “There is no God! No God!—I can do anything I want!

I’m more animal than human; so-called human intelligence escapes me.

3-4 “I flunked ‘wisdom.’ I see no evidence of a holy God.

Has anyone ever seen anyone climb into Heaven and take charge? grab the winds and control them? gather the rains in his bucket? stake out the ends of the earth?

Just tell me his name, tell me the names of his sons. Come on now—tell me!”

5-6 The believer replied, “Every promise of God proves true; he protects everyone who runs to him for help.

So don’t second-guess him; he might take you to task and show up your lies.”

7-9 And then he prayed, “God, I’m asking for two things before I die; don’t refuse me—

Banish lies from my lips and liars from my presence.

Give me enough food to live on, neither too much nor too little.

If I’m too full, I might get independent, saying, ‘God? Who needs him?’

If I’m poor, I might steal and dishonor the name of my God.”

Scripture Insight

Faith, Humility, and Dependence

Proverbs 30:1-9 chronicles a conversation between the skeptic and the believer. In the skeptic, we see arrogance: “There is no God!” he states emphatically. And that arrogance leads to presumption: “I can do anything I want!” (verse 1). Arrogance closes our minds to anything outside of our own self-interest and the fulfillment of our most selfish instincts.

In the believer, on the other hand, we see humility. And that humility leads not to presumption but to prayer. Even the prayer itself is humble. He asks only two things: to speak truthfully and live dependently.

An absence of God in a person’s life leads to skepticism, arrogance, and presumption. An awareness of God leads to faith, humility, and dependence.

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