A Person Who Learns Wisdom

[Proverbs 30:1–9]

What are you learning in your journey of faith? One of the things I am learning in my own faith journey is to move from saying, “I can do it,” to saying, “I cannot do it, but the Lord can.” As a pastor engaged in ministry, I often find myself in desperate need of God's power. Therefore, many of my prayers are focused on asking God for His power. I believed that was the right thing to do. In other words, as I pastor the church in the wilderness, coming to a deep awareness of my own weakness and incompetence, I believed I should rely even more on God’s power.

Of course, I don't think such a prayer is wrong. However, the Lord helped me realize that my priorities were off. That is, I was asking for God's power without first seeking His heart. So now, I want to seek God's heart and learn from Him. I desire for my heart to be transformed into His. I want to love my brothers and sisters in the Lord with the heart of Christ, just as the apostle Paul did—with the affection of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:8).

In the first part of Proverbs 30:3, today’s passage says, “I have not learned wisdom…” The “I” here refers to “Agur son of Jakeh,” as mentioned in verse 1. This man Agur appears only here in the entire Bible, so we know very little about him. What we do know is that his father's name was Jakeh, and the meaning of the name Agur is “gatherer” (according to the Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary). Pastor John MacArthur suggests that Agur may have been a student of wisdom during the time of Solomon.

Agur says in Proverbs 30:3, “I have not learned wisdom,” but as I meditated on this statement, I thought about it in reverse. In other words, rather than being someone like Agur who had not learned wisdom, I want to be someone who learns wisdom. So under the title “A Person Who Learns Wisdom,” I would like to reflect on Proverbs 30:1–9 and receive the lessons God gives us by considering three characteristics of a person who learns wisdom.

First, a person who learns wisdom recognizes their own foolishness and ignorance.

Look at Proverbs 30:2–3:
“Surely I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man. I have not learned wisdom, nor do I have knowledge of the Holy One.”
(The Korean Living Bible version puts it this way: “I am so foolish that I am no better than a beast. I do not have the understanding a human being ought to have. I have never learned wisdom and have no knowledge of the Holy One.”)

We must come to know ourselves—but we do so by coming to know God. For example, 1 John 4:16 says, “God is love.” The more we grow in the knowledge of the truth that God is love, the more we must realize how lacking in love we are ourselves. Likewise, Leviticus 11:45 says, “I am holy.” As we come to know the holy God, we must come to understand how unholy we are.

In short, as we grow in the knowledge of God, we must grow in our knowledge of ourselves. The problem, as the prophet Hosea declared, is that today we lack knowledge of God, and as a result—even though the number of believers increases—sin against God also increases (Hosea 4:6–7). The reason we lack the knowledge of God is that we have rejected that knowledge (v.6). Therefore, the Bible urges us: “Let us press on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3). Only when we earnestly seek to know God will we come to truly know ourselves.

When that happens, we will realize that our thoughts are vastly different from God's thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). We will come to know that our standards are completely different from God’s.

Returning to Proverbs 30:2–3, the writer Agur says, “Surely I am more stupid than any man… I have not learned wisdom… I have no knowledge of the Holy One.” He declares himself to be so ignorant that he is less than a beast (v.2, Korean Living Bible). When I meditated on these words, I was reminded of Psalm 73. The psalmist Asaph, after envying the prosperity of the wicked (v.3), entered the sanctuary of God and then understood their end (v.17). After that, he said this about himself: “I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you” (v.22, Korean Living Bible).

In the end, Asaph not only understood the fate of the wicked by entering the sanctuary of God, but he also realized that he himself was foolish and ignorant—a beast before the Lord (v.22).

The reason Agur says in Proverbs 30:2–3, “I am more stupid than any man,” is because he recognizes he lacks human understanding, has not learned wisdom, and has no knowledge of the Holy One. In short, Agur calls himself a beast because he lacks the knowledge of the Holy God. To lack knowledge of the Holy One is the same as lacking wisdom and understanding. And to lack wisdom and understanding is, in effect, to be no different from a beast.

Agur confesses this about himself—so to whom does he make this confession? According to verse 1, he spoke these words to “Ithiel and Ucal.” These two may have been his most beloved students (MacArthur). To them, Agur poses these questions:
“Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son—surely you know?”
(Korean Living Bible: “Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his cupped hands? Who has wrapped the waters in a garment? Who has established the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name—tell me if you know.”) (v.4)

Agur asks these questions because he understands that such things cannot be known apart from divine revelation. In the end, by confessing his ignorance to Ithiel and Ucal, Agur demonstrates his humility (MacArthur).

What is true wisdom in the sight of God?
It is making a right confession of faith through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 16:15, a passage we are quite familiar with, Jesus asked His disciples,
“But who do you say that I am?” (v.15).
At that moment, the apostle Peter responded,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (v.16)
After hearing this confession, Jesus said,
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” (v.17)
In other words, the reason Peter was able to make such a confession about Jesus was because it had been revealed to him by God.
Therefore, as people who seek to learn wisdom, we must earnestly desire God's revelation.
We must also humbly acknowledge our ignorance, recognizing that we cannot know God apart from His revelation.
Moreover, we must understand that without God’s revelation, we cannot possess the knowledge of the Holy One (Proverbs 30:3).
Without God’s revelation, we cannot know Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son.
Thus, as those who desire to learn wisdom, we must humbly admit our ignorance and seek God's revelation even more earnestly.
I pray that God will reveal more and more of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, so that both you and I may come to know Him more deeply.

Secondly, a person who learns wisdom trusts in the pure Word of God.

When I think of the word “refining,” I am reminded of Job 23:10:
“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”
God is the One who tests and refines our hearts (Proverbs 17:3).
But He does not refine us like silver—rather, He chooses us “in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10).
Ultimately, God uses the suffering we endure to refine us.
He leads us through paths of hardship so that we may come out as pure gold.
In particular, God purifies our faith—which may be mixed with dross and impurities—through the furnace of suffering (Isaiah 1:25), making our faith like refined gold.
God also purifies us through affliction (Daniel 11:35).

Look at Proverbs 30:5:
“Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”
(Modern Translation: “The word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”)
The writer Agur declares that “every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who trust in Him.”
Here, “pure” refers to something that has been refined—impurities removed—like silver or gold (according to Yoon Sun Park).
Many of you probably know roughly how dross is removed from silver: the silver is placed in a furnace and exposed to high heat to remove the impurities.
However, the impurities do not come off easily.
To obtain pure silver, it must be refined multiple times under high temperatures.
A silversmith must labor intensely and sweat much to obtain pure silver, and yet they willingly make that effort to acquire it (according to sources online).

Proverbs 17:3 says:
“The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.”
What does this mean?
Just as the silversmith repeatedly refines silver with intense heat to make it pure, so God allows us to pass through the “furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10) to refine our hearts.
In other words, when carnal and worldly impurities remain in us like dross, God allows trials and sufferings—the fire of refinement—to purify and remove such things from us (source: Internet).

A great example of this is Job in the Old Testament.
Look again at Job 23:10:
“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”
Why does God make us go through the furnace of affliction to remove the dross?
See Proverbs 25:4 (second part):
“… then the silversmith can produce a vessel.”
What does that mean?
God removes the dross from the silver so that a usable vessel may be made.
Likewise, God allows us to go through the furnace of affliction so that we may ultimately emerge like pure gold.

What is the purpose?
Why does God want us to come forth like pure gold?

Look at 2 Timothy 2:21:
“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”
In other words, the Lord desires to purify us so that we may be prepared and fit for His use—so that we may become valuable vessels in His service.
To accomplish this, the Lord purifies us with the pure Word of God (Proverbs 30:5).

Look at Psalm 12:6:
“… the words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.”
(Modern Translation: “The Lord's words are flawless, like silver purified in a furnace, like gold refined seven times.”)
The Lord cleanses and purifies us through this pure (flawless) Word of God.

So then, what is our responsibility?
Let us briefly consider three things…

(1) We must long for the pure Word of God (1 Peter 2:2)

We must long for the pure and unadulterated Word of God. In doing so, we must not add anything to God's pure Word (Proverbs 30:6). Otherwise, God will rebuke us, and we will be found liars (v.6, Modern Translation).
In fact, when we deeply long for God's pure Word, we may fall into the temptation of adding to it. That is why Revelation 22:18 says:

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.”
(Modern Translation: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book.”)

(2) We must trust in that pure Word (Proverbs 30:5)

The word “trust” here can also mean “to hide oneself” or “to take refuge.” It refers to a faith that fully relies on God during times of difficulty and danger (Yoon Sun Park).

This reminds me of the first verse and chorus of the hymn #543 in the Korean hymnal, “When I face difficult times”:

Verse 1:
“Though my faith is weak when I face trials,
I trust in my Lord all the more.”

Chorus:
“As the years go by, I have nothing else to rely on.
No matter what comes my way, I trust in Jesus.”

We must trust in Jesus. We must trust in the pure Word of Jesus. In trusting, we must hold on to His pure promises and seek the faithful God of the covenant who gave us those promises.
When we do so, the Lord will become our shield (Proverbs 30:5). He will protect and guard us.

(3) We must obey the pure Word of God

When we do, the Lord cleanses our souls.
See 1 Peter 1:22:

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”
(Modern Translation: “You have purified your souls by obeying the truth, leading you to genuinely love your brothers and sisters. So love one another earnestly with a pure heart.”)

Also, when we obey the pure Word of God, we can cleanse our actions.
See Psalm 119:9:

“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.”
(Modern Translation: “How can a young person live with a clean heart? By living according to Your Word.”)

Friends, every word of God is pure (Proverbs 30:5).
God purifies us through His pure Word. In purifying us, He also removes every detestable thing from our church, thereby preserving the purity of His church.

So what should we do, and how should we live?
We must trust in God’s pure Word.
We must not fear suffering.
Rather, we should look forward to and experience God's work, who refines and purifies us through our trials.

Lastly, third: A person who learns wisdom prays to God

What is the one prayer you want God to answer before you die?

In Mitch Albom’s “Tuesdays with Morrie,” there’s a line that says:

“Before you die, forgive yourself. Then forgive others.”

Reflecting on that, I wrote something like this:

“We must forgive before we die.
If you cannot forgive yourself or others even as you face death, then that death cannot be a beautiful one.
What is there that cannot be forgiven before death?
We must forgive all.
In order to do that, we must remember the death of Jesus on the cross.
We must face death with the attitude of commemorating Jesus’ death.
Just as Jesus died on the cross to forgive all our sins,
we too must forgive ourselves and others as we face death.
We must offer such true forgiveness, even in the face of death.”

Personally, I believe that before we die, we should come to understand more deeply, more fully, more broadly, and more highly the fact that our beloved brothers and sisters have been forgiven in Christ.
And we should forgive those who have sinned against us, reconcile with them, and then go in peace.
That should be our earnest prayer, and I hope and pray that God answers it.

In Numbers 27:16–17, we see Moses, knowing that he would soon die like his brother Aaron (v.13, Modern Translation), making a final request to God.
But Moses did not ask for his life to be extended (see: 2 Kings 20:6).
He didn’t even ask God to let him enter the land of Canaan, which he had so longed to see (see: Deuteronomy 34).

In fact, Moses went up Mount Abarim as God commanded, saw the Promised Land that God had given to Israel, but died without entering it (Numbers 27:12–13).

So what did Moses want before he died?

He wanted a leader to be appointed over the congregation of Israel, so that the people would not be like sheep without a shepherd (vv.16–17).
In other words, Moses prayed before his death that God would appoint someone to lead the people into Canaan in his place.

From this, we can see that Moses cared more about the people of Israel than about himself.
In other words, he was more concerned for the people of God than for his own interests.

Let us look at today’s passage, Proverbs 30:7–8:

“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.”
(Contemporary Translation: “I once prayed to God like this: ‘I ask You for two things. Please grant them to me before I die. Help me so that I do not lie or deceive. Do not make me poor or rich, but just give me the daily bread I need.’”)

The writer of Proverbs, Agur, asked the Lord for two things.
He earnestly desired that the Lord would grant these two prayer requests before he died.

(1) The first prayer request:

“Keep falsehood and lies far from me”
(Contemporary Translation: “Help me so that I do not lie or deceive”) (v.8a)

We too must offer this kind of prayer to the Lord like Agur did.
First, we need to pray:
“Lord, keep vanity far from me.”

When I think about the word "vanity," I am reminded of a passage from Ecclesiastes I meditated on in 2010:

• "A vain world" (Ecc. 1:1–11),

• "Vain wisdom" (1:12–18),

• "Vain pleasures" (2:1–11).

Why is this world vain?

• Because nothing is truly profitable (1:3),

• Because no matter what, one’s life will return to dust (vv.5–6),

• Because human desires are never satisfied (v.8),

• And because future generations will not remember the people of today (v.11).

Why is the world’s wisdom vain?

• Because after investigating all deeds under the sun, it turns out that it is a burdensome task (v.10),

• Because human wisdom cannot save fallen man (v.15),

• And because “it is all meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (v.14).

King Solomon didn’t just experiment with wine in search of pleasure (2:3),
he also undertook great projects (v.4), and to satisfy the lusts of his flesh,
he took for himself many wives and concubines (v.8)—but his conclusion was:

“This too is meaningless” (vv.1–2)

We must stay away from these vain and empty things.
Therefore, like Agur, we must pray that the Lord would keep all vanity far from us.

Agur not only asked to be kept from "vanity" but also from "lies."
So we too must pray:
“Lord, keep lies far from me.”

When I think of "lies," John 8:44 comes to mind:

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.
He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.
When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Satan is a liar and the father of lies.
So when we, like Agur, pray to be kept far from lies,
we are also asking to be kept far from Satan, the father of lies,
and to not become liars ourselves.

When I reflect on Agur’s prayer, I learn this lesson:
A person who seeks wisdom must rely on the pure Word of God and, in prayer, seek what is beneficial and true in the sight of God.

In other words:

• As we pray that God would keep vanity far from us,
  we must also pray that He would bring us close to what is beneficial in His eyes.

• As we pray that He would keep lies far from us,
  we must also pray that He would bring us closer to His truth.

(2) The second prayer request:

“Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread”
(Contemporary Translation: “Do not make me poor or rich, but just give me the daily bread I need”) (v.8b)

When I reflect on this second prayer request, I’m reminded of the prayer the Lord Jesus taught us (The Lord’s Prayer).
In that prayer, Jesus teaches us to say:

“Give us today our daily bread”
(Contemporary Translation: “Give us the bread we need for today”) (Matthew 6:11)

This phrase "daily bread" refers to the food needed for that day,
and it takes us back to the Exodus,
when the Israelites were allowed to gather only the amount of manna and quail necessary for a single day (Exodus 16:4).

Let’s look at the background of this passage:
On the 15th day of the second month, exactly one month after leaving Egypt (v.1, contemporary version),
the whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron (v.2).

Their complaint was:

“If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!
There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted,
but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (v.3).

Hearing their grumbling, God said to Moses:

“I will rain down bread from heaven for you.
The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.
In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
On the sixth day, they are to prepare what they bring in,
and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days” (vv.4–5)

God not only heard the grumbling of the people,
but also promised to rain down food from heaven.

At that time, the responsibility of the Israelites was to:

“Go out daily and gather that day’s portion” (v.4, contemporary version).

Although Moses faithfully conveyed God’s words to the Israelites,
they did not listen and kept some of the food until morning,
and the next day, it was full of maggots and began to smell (v.20, contemporary version).

In the latter half of Proverbs 30:8, the second prayer request that the writer Agur makes to God teaches us that we should not live like the Israelites during the Exodus, who grumbled and disobeyed God’s Word. Instead, we should pray to God as Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
And just like Agur, we should pray that God feeds us with only the food we need.

This means that we are not to ask God to give us the daily bread that we want, but to ask for the daily bread that we need.

As I meditate on Agur’s second prayer — “Give me neither poverty nor riches” — I’m reminded of Philippians 4:11b–12. The apostle Paul wrote the following to the believers in the church of Philippi:

“…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation,
whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (Modern Translation)

Paul had learned the secret of contentment in all circumstances.
Because of this, he did not consider being in poverty or abundance as something that really mattered.
Especially because, as he said, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” (v.13),
neither poverty nor riches were of great concern to him.

In Proverbs 30:8–9, Agur explains why he asked God,
“Give me neither poverty nor riches”:

“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.”

What a deeply relatable reason.
Of course, even if we are poor, that does not justify breaking God’s commandment —
the eighth commandment of the Ten Commandments:
“You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15),
nor should we bring dishonor to God’s name by stealing.

But I especially resonate with why Agur prayed not to be rich.
It’s because he feared that, being full and satisfied, he might say:
“Who is the Lord?” and forget Him.

This reason from Agur deeply resonates with me because, as I have meditated on Scripture,
I have repeatedly seen that when believers become prosperous, they often become proud,
abandon God, and fall into sin.

Dear friends, those who seek wisdom pray to God like Agur did.
Therefore, we who are seeking wisdom must also pray like Agur.

We should pray that God would keep vanity and lies far from us.
May God hear our prayers and help us.
And we must also pray to God:
“Give me neither poverty nor riches.”

Like Agur, we should have a healthy fear.
What kind of fear?

• The fear that if we become rich and full, we might abandon God and say,
  “Who is the Lord?”

• And the fear that if we become poor, we might steal and dishonor God’s name.

Like Agur, we must pray:
“But feed me with the food that is needful for me.”

We should also pray, as Jesus taught us:
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
(Modern Translation: “Give us the food we need each day.”)

To conclude this meditation:

We must become people who learn wisdom.
Those who seek wisdom recognize their own ignorance and foolishness.
As people learning wisdom, we must humbly acknowledge our limitations
and earnestly desire God’s revelation.

May God reveal Himself to all of us more deeply
so that we may come to know His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, more fully.

Also, a wise person relies on the pure Word of God.
The Lord cleanses us through His pure Word.
He, who purifies and cleanses us, desires that we long for His pure Word.

We must trust in that Word.
And when we obey God’s pure Word,
the Lord will cleanse both our souls and our conduct.

A person who seeks wisdom also prays to God —
praying that God would keep vanity and lies far away,
and also praying:
“Give me neither poverty nor riches.”

The one who seeks wisdom prays:
“Feed me with the food that is needful for me.”

May we continue to grow as those who seek wisdom.