Agur’s Awesome Prayer

It has been a writing phenomena as it has sold by the millions. As you study the prayer of Jabez, it will bless your heart over and over again.

But another prayer that is just as interesting is the prayer of Agur. Let’s look at this simple prayer that he prayed, that God considered to be so important that He placed it within the Scriptures for us learn from. Let’s look at-

I. HIS PRAYER REGARDING HIS PERSON

Some are probably saying to yourself, “WHO IS AGUR?” Perhaps you are saying, “I have heard of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and many others, but I never heard of Agur.”

Most likely none of us would have ever heard of Agur at all were it not for this prayer that he prayed, recorded in the Scripture in Proverbs 30. You might say, his claim to fame was due to a prayer he prayed.

WHO WAS AGUR?

We do not know a great deal about him, but we do know that he was the son of Jaked. But that does not tell us a great deal because we do not know who Jaked was either. But you can learn a great deal about a person when you listen to them pray.

Illus: Many have heard people pray publicly, and when we heard them praying publicly, we got the distinct impression they were not talking to God, but to us!

WHY DO WE REACH THAT CONCLUSION? Because the words of their prayers are telling everyone how much they love the Lord.

Listen, if they were talking to the Lord, they would not need to tell Him how much they love Him, because He already knows how much or how little they love Him.

These remind us of the two men in Luke 18 that went to the temple to pray.

Look at Luke 18:10-14, we read, “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

Notice, the Bible says, “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.”

If he was talking to God, he did not need to tell the Lord how much he tithed and fasted. God already had all that information. He gave the impression that he was praying, but actually he was bragging!

Many folks do not know the difference between PRAYING and BRAGGING! When they are called upon to pray in public, they use this opportunity to let everyone know how much they love the Lord, and they tell of all the things that they have done for Him. Like this Pharisee, they often compare themselves to others.

Even though the Bible does not tell us a great deal about Agur, his prayer tells us a great deal about him as we will see in a few minutes.

We have looked at HIS PRAYER REGARDING HIS PERSON, but also let’s look at -

II. HIS PRAYER REGARDING HIS POVERTY

Look at Proverbs 30:7-8, “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me.”

These two verses of Scripture tell us a great deal about the kind of man Agur was. For example, we can see from these two verses -

A. HE SEEMS TO BE AN ORGANIZED MAN

Look at verse 7 again, we read, “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die.”

Notice, he knew exactly what he wanted from the Lord. He said, “Two things have I required of thee.”

The word “Required” means there were TWO THINGS HE WANTED TO TALK TO GOD ABOUT!

Illus: You know when a man goes into an ice cream parlor, he knows he wants some ice cream. But it is important that he also knows WHAT FLAVOR, and HOW MANY SCOOPS HE WANTS!

It would be ridiculous on his part, to walk in and say, “I want some ice cream!” Of course he wants some ice cream, but WHAT KIND AND HOW MANY SCOOPS DOES HE WANT?

It is also ridiculous when a person comes to the Lord in prayer, and it is obvious they need something from the Lord, but they do not know what they want from the Lord.