God Chooses to Use Ordinary People
August 20, 2021
Commentary
Agar the inspired writer of these verses is not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture and even though his father’s name is given there is no clue to his family or tribe in Israel. Ithiel and Ucal are apparently his companions but are also unknown (v. 1). Agar seems to have been a plain and simple man who had little natural ability and was perhaps even below average human intelligence (vv. 2-3). Yet the Lord opened his understanding, revealing to him great and precious things and enabled him to impart these things to not only Ithiel and Ucal but to untold thousands. God still chooses to use just ordinary people to do his work. The only answer to the five questions in this verse is God (v. 4). Man does not have by nature the ability to know by himself the nature of God.
Man can only know God as He has revealed Himself through the written Word (v. 5). To attempt to add to what He has written is to deny the all-sufficiency of Scripture to meet and provide for every circumstance of life. There have been many frauds who have sought to add to the Scriptures by claiming to have had special revelations which we are warned about here (v. 6). Some of these are: the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith, visions of Ellen White as found in Seventh day Adventist literature, and certainly the unchristian and unscientific theories of Mary Baker, Glover, Patterson Eddy in Christian Science. There are two things the writer wants the Lord to do him before he dies: Make me absolutely honest and don’t let me be too poor or too rich (v. 7). Give me just what I need (v. 8). If I have too much to eat, I might forget about you; if I don’t have enough, I might steal and disgrace your name (v. 9). Don’t tell a slave owner something bad about his slave (v. 10).
Application
The only way I will be able to know God is to spend time with Him and His word.
Proverbs 30:1– 10 (NET)
1 The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh; an oracle: This man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Ukal:
2 Surely I am more brutish than any other human being, and I do not have human understanding;
3 I have not learned wisdom, nor can I have knowledge of the Holy One.
4 Who has ascended into heaven, and then descended? Who has gathered up the winds in his fists? Who has bound up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you can know!
5 Every word of God is purified; he is like a shield for those who take refuge in him.
6 Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you, and prove you to be a liar.
7 Two things I have asked from you; do not refuse me before I die:
8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me; do not give me poverty or riches, feed me with my allotted portion of bread,
9 lest I become satisfied and act deceptively and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I become poor and steal and demean the name of my God.
10 Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you are found guilty.
Illustration: Gem Dealer Who Purchased a Sapphire Stone For Ten Dollars
A gem dealer was strolling the aisles at the Tucson Gem Show when he noticed a blue-violet stone the size and shape of a potato. He looked it over, then, as calmly as possible, asked the vendor, “You want $15 for this?” The seller, realizing the rock wasn’t as pretty as others in the bin, lowered the price to $10. The stone has since been certified as a 1,905-carat sapphire, about 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind. It was appraised at $2.28 million. It took a lover of stones to recognize the sapphire’s worth. It took the Lover of Souls to recognize the true value of ordinary-looking people like us. (Online Leadership Journal – America Online).