We have a challenge for you! What would you add to Agur’s list? Maybe you are thinking, “Who in the world is Agur and what was on his list?” You might remember that our last blog began with…
“I’d better write that down so I can remember!”
Thankfully, Agur wrote his list(s) down! Was it on stone or parchment? We don’t know. We don’t really know much about the man. What we do know is that you can still read his reminders in Proverbs 30.
Are you ready for a treasure hunt? How had I missed this? We miss stuff every day, partly because we are just not looking. Yes, I have read through the Bible in a year, but maybe I was going too fast to gear down and notice! It was in October 2023 when I first remember seeing the list(s). We were #prayingProverbs every morning with the ECL Live Study Community on Facebook, thank you Kerry Holton!! Lo and behold there it was, or should I say, there they were: no less than five lists plus a prayer list! In this brief space, Agur points to the Creator in a powerful way and even asks about the name of His Son!? Yes, it’s in there! He also reminds us that “Every word of God proves true.” (30:5 NLT) Then he writes: “Do not add to his words…” so why would we even consider such a thing? Feel free to pause and open your Bible with pencil in hand and look for Agur’s list(s). You will find his powerful little prayer list (30:7-9), which Jay Payleitner (see above) and other authors have declared is the only prayer in Proverbs. For the sake of this blog, we are not going to be “distracted” by prayer. We will save that for a future blog. Take a moment to circle every time Agur writes “three things”. This time, let’s focus on his second list of four, and get lost, looking around in wonder for a moment:
Proverbs 30:18-19 NLT
There are three things that amaze me—
no, four things that I don’t understand:
how an eagle glides through the sky,
how a snake slithers on a rock,
how a ship navigates the ocean,
how a man loves a woman.
So here is the challenge: What would you add to Agur’s list? Please let us know what leaves you simply amazed?! What is there about creation that is undeniably too wonderful?
- Watching snakes slither, preferably in the other direction!
- Counting 10-20 hawks making lazy circles in the sky. That same sky at night declares without words how glorious our God is, leaving us no excuse but to praise Him. (Ps. 19; Romans 1:20) “Invisible” yet “clearly seen”!
- Watching a creative grandson at play, simple pleasures with just paper, glue, tape and colored pencils.
- Watching a granddaughter perform with a color guard team in a precision drill.
- Watching a granddaughter play “Holy, holy, holy” on Irish church bells.
- Watching a sandpiper run effortlessly across our yard.
- Looking at the complexity of the human eye, all that goes into the wonder of vision or what makes it possible for us to hear, or walk or work.
We have yet to mention other Agur wonders: ants, marmots, locusts, lizards, lions, roosters, goats; all made him pause and smile. It’s our prayer that this little list from Agur, which is 3000+ years old, has triggered your imagination and you will watch in wonder with us. Feel free to add to the list!
