What would you wish for if you had a “genie in a bottle?”  Surely all of us at one point or another have day-dreamed about that question.  Just how would we use our “three wishes?”   If we were to poll people on the street, I would guess that almost universally, the wishes would go something like this.  Wish #1 – Good Health.  Wish #2 – Inexhaustible Riches.  Wish #3 – An Infinite Number of Additional Wishes.  It’s amazing how much we all think alike.

However, I know of one man who was quite different than most of us.  He wasn’t given “three wishes,” and he didn’t have a genie in a bottle, but he did ask God to grant just two wishes for him before he died.  Here’s what he wished for, “Two things I request of you (deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches – feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny you, and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God” (Proverbs 30:7-9).

Did you see that?  “Give me neither poverty nor riches!”  Amazing!  It’s almost unbelievable that one would wish for such a thing.  But how incredibly wise and insightful this man was.  He understood the power that money could wield over one’s life, and thus sought to avoid the pitfalls of both riches and poverty.

May God help us to have a proper relationship with money.  We can’t avoid it.  It’s necessary to function in our society.  It need not harm us, but if we don’t stay on guard, keeping our attitudes in check, it will harm us.  Money is powerful!  Therefore, I pray that we may all develop the contentment to be able to truly say, “Lord, grant me neither riches nor poverty.”

–Steve Higginbothom