"Stay Hungry -- Stay Humble -- Stay Prayerful"

As I read these two articles here and here, illustrating the ups and downs of the rich and famous, I immediately thought of the wise words of request from the Hebrew sage, Agur in Proverbs 30:7-9 NLT: "O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name."

Sad to say, but my late father may have been right about this nation needing to undergo another 1929-1930 Depression experience (see video), when practically everyone was dirt poor after the stock market crash. That period of time when folks were "hungering and thirsting" after righteousness (Matthew 5:6: Matthew 4:4 - see article), rather than the Almighty Dollar.

As we can plainly see, from the above Depression article and video, there is a marked contrast in the society of the 1930's versus today's society. Today, folks have far too much affluence and time on their hands, resulting in idle minds -- serving the devil rather than God (See God's admonition and warning in Deuteronomy 6:1-15; Deuteronomy 8 NET). Beloved, we are in desperate need for a spiritual revival in this country, but what's to bring it about? Another 1929-1930 Depression? No, simply a realization of our need for God and His guidance (Proverbs 3:5-6). And a realization that the lasting treasures are in heaven, not here on earth (Matthew 6:19-21; cf. 1 Timothy 6:17-19).

At the end of the late Steve Jobs' commencement address to the Stanford University graduating class of 2005, Mr. Jobs encouraged the class to, "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." This writer would like to add a twist to those words, by encouraging the citizens (and especially Christians) of our nation to "Stay Hungry -- Stay Humble -- Stay Prayerful" (Matthew 5:6: Matthew 4:4; James 4:7-10; 1 Peter 5:5-6; Ephesians 6:18; 2 Chronicles 7:14).

---Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets