Money & Finances
I want to pray about my finances but it feels like I am treating God as a cash machine. Is it even right to ask him for money?
“Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”
Agur's prayer is one of the only recorded prayers in scripture about a specific income level, and what he asks for is the middle. Not poverty, not riches. His stated reasons are practical and unusually self aware: too much and he will forget God, too little and he will steal and disgrace the name he claims. He knew his own weaknesses in both directions and prayed accordingly.
“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.”
When the disciples asked how to pray, Jesus gave them a short prayer in which material provision appears, and appears early. Daily bread is a modest request, deliberately so, and the wording suggests enough for the day at hand rather than a stockpile. It sits between hallowed be thy name and forgive us our debts. Asking God for money is not a lapse in reverence.
A path forward
Pray for what you actually need this month, specifically and by amount, rather than in general terms. Vagueness feels more reverent and usually just avoids the subject.
Write out Agur's prayer in your own words, naming what too much and too little would each do to you. It changes what you find yourself asking for.
End every money prayer with one line of thanks for something already provided. It is the simplest way to keep the conversation from turning into a list of requests.
Closing verse
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
- James 4:3
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