Should we pray to be rich or should we pray to be poor? Pray to be exempted from riches and poverty -- two extremes to be avoided

St. Francis of Assisi renounces his worldly goods in a painting attributed to Giotto di Bondone.

Proverbs 30:8-9

Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
    give me neither poverty nor riches,
    but give me only my daily bread.
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.

Charles Bridges, MA (1794-1869) was a preacher and theologian in the Church of England. Bridges explains:

9. 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.

What should you pray for?

Praying Hands by Albrecht Dürer showing the hand position of a medieval commendation ceremony.

Though Agur (the author) had confessed his brutishness before his God yet his prayers (the most accurate test of a man of God) prove him to have been possessed of deep spiritual understanding. "We ask, and receive not, because we ask amiss, that we may consume it upon our lusts." (Jam. iv. 3.) How wisely gracious therefore is the teaching of the divine Comforter, "helping our infirmities" in prayer, and by moulding our petitions, "according to the will of God," ensuring their acceptance. (Rom. viii. 26, 27.) Agur's heart must have been under this heavenly teaching; dictating his prayers by a primary regard to his best interests, and by a spiritual discernment of what would probably be beneficial, and what injurious to them.

Pray with all the intense earnestness of a dying sinner -- "Deny me them not before I die!"

Relief print of Daniel's prayer by Edward Poynter, 1865. Daniel 6 describes how Daniel prayed even though threatened with death, while Daniel 9 records a prayer that he prayed.

Two things he especially required--not as though he had nothing else to ask, but as being the pressing burden of the present moment. And these he asks--as if he would take no denial (Gen. xxxii. 26)--with all the intense earnestness of a dying sinner--Deny me them not before I die!

Pray short, comprehensive prayers

His prayers are short, but comprehensive. Though little is said, yet that little is fraught with matter; framed in its proper order. Spiritual blessings occupy the first place; temporal blessings are secondary, and in subserviency to them.

Pray as a soul that knows its dangers and its besetting temptations

Remove from me vanity and lies. Is not this the atmosphere of the world? vanity its character--lies its delusion; promising happiness, only to disappoint its weary and restless victims? How can the heaven-born soul breathe in such a world? Everything deadens the heart, and eclipses the glory of the Saviour. "The soul cleaveth to the dust." "All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John, ii. 16.) And therefore "they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." (Jonah, ii. 8.) A soul that knows its dangers and its besetting temptations, will live in the spirit of this prayer of the godly Agur--remove from me--far from me--as far as possible, vanity and lies. "Turn away mine eyes"--prayed a saint of God in the same watchful jealousy--"from beholding vanity. Remove from me the way of lying." (Ps. cxix. 37, 29)

Pray against nature's desire for riches.  Only let Christian self-denial, not depraved appetite, be the standard of competency

Peter Paul Rubens, The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau, 1624.
Jacob when "he had become two bands," evidently required more than when in his earlier life "with his staff he had passed over Jordan." (Gen. xxxii. 10.) What was sufficient for himself alone, would not have been sufficient for the many that were then dependent upon him.

But how singular, yet how fraught with instruction, is Agur's second prayer! All are ready to pray against poverty. But to deprecate riches--this is not nature's desire, but an impulse of godly fear and trembling, that cometh from above. 'Give me not riches'--is scarce the prayer of one in ten thousand. Agur, as a wise man, desired the safest and happiest lot; not, as Israel of old, "meat for his lust;" but food convenient for him, measured out in daily allowance, suitable to his need. This is obviously not a fixed measure. It implies, not a bare sufficiency for natural life, but a provision varying according to the calling, in which God has placed us. 'If Agur be the master of a family, then that is his competency, which is sufficient to maintain his wife, children, and household. If Agur be a public person, a prince or a ruler of the people; then that is Agur's sufficiency, which will conveniently maintain him in that condition.' (Joseph Mede's (1586-1639) sermon on Agur's choice) Jacob when "he had become two bands," evidently required more than when in his earlier life "with his staff he had passed over Jordan." (Gen. xxxii. 10.) What was sufficient for himself alone, would not have been sufficient for the many that were then dependent upon him. The immense provisions for Solomon's table, considering the vast multitude of his dependants, might be only a competency for the demand. (1 Kings, iv. 22.) The distribution of the manna was food convenient--nothing too much, but no deficiency--"He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that gathered little had no lack." (Exod. xvi. 18.) And thus, in the daily dispensation of Providence, a little may be a sufficiency to one, while an overflowing plenty is no superfluity to another. Only let Christian self-denial, not depraved appetite, be the standard of competency. Proud nature never stoops so low. The Apostle distinctly traces to the influence of Divine teaching his Christian moderation in his diversified conditions of abundance and of want. Philosophy may have inculcated the lesson; but Almighty grace alone can command the practice of it.

Pray with piety and prudence to be exempted from riches and poverty

Illustration of Lazarus at the rich man's gate by Fyodor Bronnikov, 1886.

It is a question'--says Dr. South (Robert South (1634 - 1716))--'whether the piety or the prudence of this prayer be greater. Agur was well persuaded of the temptations incident to these two opposite conditions--the vanity and lies belonging to riches (Ps. lxii. 9), the discontent and occasion of sin, which are the snares of poverty. Yet he does not pray absolutely against these states, only submissively. It is the prayer of his choice, the desire of his heart, that God would graciously exempt him from both, and bless him with a middle condition. Nor does he ask this for the indulgence of the flesh. He deprecates not the trouble, anxieties, and responsibilities of riches, which might betoken an indolent, self-pleasing Spirit; nor the miseries and sufferings of poverty; but he cries for deliverance from the snares of each condition--Let me not be rich, lest I be full, and deny thee. Let me not be poor, lest I steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Riches and poverty are extremes to be avoided.  As we prosper in the flesh, we are impoverished in the spirit

And alas! the danger of these results is but too evident. Both extremes are the borders of fearful temptation. Strange and irrational as it may appear, such is the depravity of our nature, that mercies induce neglect, and often, casting off, of God. l Lust is too strong for conscience. Rarely does "the daughter of Tyre come with her gift, or the rich among the people entreat the favour" of their God. (Ps. xlv. 12.) Too often, the more we receive from God, the less he receives from us. The twining thorns choke the heavenly plant. (Matt. xiii. 22.) And as we prosper in the flesh, we are impoverished in the spirit. But not less imminent are the dangers of pinching poverty; nor is it every Christian, that can honourably grapple with them. Dishonesty is a besetting temptation, followed up by perjury to escape punishment. Thus two commandments are broken, and the sinner is in "the snare of the devil, taken captive by him at his will." (2 Tim. ii. 26.)

The golden mean between rich and poor is recommended outside of the Bible as well

Horace (65 BC to 8 BC), portrayed by Giacomo Di Chirico.
Horace was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian).
"The 'golden mean' (for so even a heathen could describe it) is recommended by patriarchs, prophets, and apostles."

The 'golden mean' (for so even a heathen could describe it (Horace (65 BC - 8 BC)) is recommended by patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. Nay, our Lord teaches us to pray for it in terms identical with this petition. For what else is our "daily bread" but food convenient for us?

God appoints us to riches and poverty: "Thy will be done."


Joseph Hall, detail of an engraving by John Payne, 1628.
Joseph Hall (1 July 1574 – 8 September 1656) was an English bishop, satirist and moralist.
'Whithersoever God gives, I am both thankful and indifferent; so as, while I am rich in estate, I may be poor in spirit; and while I am poor in estate, I may be rich in grace."

We must however be careful, that we use Agur's prayer in his spirit. Perhaps the Gospel rather teaches us to leave the matter entirely with God. Both riches and poverty are his appointment. It may please him to place us in a high condition; to entrust us with much riches, or to exercise us with the trials of poverty. Many of his children are in both these conditions. And shall they wish it otherwise? Let them rather seek for grace to glorify him in either state. Or if it seem lawful to pray for a change of condition, let us not forget to pray for a single eye to his glory, that his will, not ours, may be done in us. 'Whithersoever God gives'--said the pious Bishop Hall--'I am both thankful and indifferent; so as, while I am rich in estate, I may be poor in spirit; and while I am poor in estate, I may be rich in grace." (Joseph Hall (1574 - 1656))

Source: Bridges, Charles. A Commentary on Proverbs. New York/Pittsburgh: R. Carter, 1847, pages 596 to 598.