Daily Lesson for February 13, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Proverbs chapter 30 verses 7 through 9:

7 Two things I ask of you;

   do not deny them to me before I die: 

8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying;

   give me neither poverty nor riches;

   feed me with the food that I need,

9 or I shall be full, and deny you,

   and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’

or I shall be poor, and steal,

   and profane the name of my God.

As we near now the threshold of Lent, we arrive at Shrove Tuesday which is also called Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Today is a day set aside in many cultures for celebration and feasting before the fasting of Lent begins tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. Today we’ll celebrate with staff-cooked pancakes at church. It’s BYOB — bring your own butter. 

In the Lesson today there is link between food and the spiritual life. Food is a stand in for all the things we need, but are also tempted to consume too much of. Pancakes this evening would definitely qualify. So too would clothes, and houses, electronics, money, and probably all manner of other things. 

The wisdom of Proverbs dares to pray for no more and no less of those things which are needed. Wisdom knows there is such a thing as enough and that it really is enough. And wisdom knows that when there is too much more than enough the grace of having to depend on God is gets lost. As the words to the hymn say, we become “rich in things, but poor in soul,” — full in body but impoverished in spirit. 

I’m going to enjoy my pancakes tonight. But I’m going to try not to enjoy them too much. For I do want to be fed, and I want to be full, but I do not want to be so full that I forget the taste and grace of my daily bread.