5 “Every word of God is flawless;     he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words,     or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.7 “Two things I ask of you, Lord;     do not refuse me before I die: 8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;     give me neither poverty nor riches,     but give me only my daily bread. 9 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.REFLECTIONSWritten by Stephen SheadWhen I read the opening of this passage (v 5), I was reminded of just how pure and perfect God’s Word is. It’s not just the vibe or general idea that’s true, it’s every single word. And not just mostly right, but flawless. That’s why we are to trust God’s word completely, and not think we need to improve it or add to it (v 6).I’m sure we all feel the temptation to doubt God’s word sometimes, when our sinful hearts want God to approve of something that we desire, or when society mocks or despises us for what the Bible says. I feel that temptation – so please keep me and our other ministers on track by testing what we say against every flawless word from God.Verses 7-9 talk about wealth and material possessions. This is one area of life where it’s not great to be on either extreme. If you’re rich, the temptation is to become proud and think that you don’t need God, and so disown him (v 9). But if you’re in poverty, the pressure is there to become a thief and so dishonour God.I think we tend to think of ourselves as somewhere in the middle – not too rich, not too poor. But simply by living in Australia, almost all of us fall very much on the “wealthy” side of the line. And remember that Jesus focused much more on the dangers of wealth.I found the writer’s prayer in verse 8 both helpful and very challenging to test my own heart: “give me only my daily bread.” Often when I pray the line about daily bread from the Lord’s Prayer, what I really mean is, “give me at least what I need – but way more than that would also be great!”Let’s ask God to keep us believing every word of his truth, and to help us flee from the lies and deceit of wealth.ABOUT THE AUTHORStephen leads the St Barnabas ministry team, and will finish off our Proverbs series with the final two devotions (today and tomorrow).