Have you ever thought so much about something that your head felt tired? That is exactly how Agur felt! He wanted to understand and explain God, but then he realised that God is far too great for our minds to fully grasp.
We don’t know much about Agur. But in Proverbs 30 he writes how he became tired from thinking about God. Download this Bible study and learn more about Agur and why our human minds cannot understand God. You can also read the Bible study below. Also look out for the extra activities below the article.
1. Who was Agur?
We do not know much about Agur. But in Proverbs 30 we read how he wrote about becoming tired from thinking about God.
Read Proverbs 30:1 (NIV):
This man’s utterance to Ithiel:
‘I am weary, God, but I can prevail.’
Agur said he had thought himself tired. He wanted to work out God’s greatness, but discovered he could not do it.
2. Agur realises he is unwise
Agur admitted that he was really “stupid” or a brute. He was not being funny. He realised that no human being is clever enough to completely understand who God is and what His plans are.
Read Proverbs 30:2-3 (NIV):
Surely I am only a brute, not a man; I do not have human understanding.
I have not learned wisdom, nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One.”
He was saying: “The more I try to think, the less I know.”
3. God is greater than our thoughts
Agur teaches us an important truth: God is always greater than what we can imagine. We cannot put Him in a box or ever fully understand Him.
Read Romans 11:33 (NIV):
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
The Bible says God’s wisdom is so deep and so great that we can never figure it out. We do not have to understand everything, we just need to trust Him.
Questions to think about together
- Have you ever tried to understand something about God and then realised you could not?
- What do you think Agur meant when he said he felt “unwise”?
- Read Proverbs 30:4. What are the questions Agur asks there? What do these questions teach us about God?
- Why do you think it is actually wise to say:
“I do not know everything, but I trust God”? - How do you feel knowing that God is much greater than anything we can imagine?
Activities
After you have completed the lesson, try one of these activities:
1. What does Agur wonder about?
Read Proverbs 30:1-4 together and write down all the questions Agur asks. Now think about these questions of Agur and whether you also wonder about them, or what you still wonder about. Talk to your parents about it.
2. Make a think box!
Get a shoe box and write on the top: “What I cannot understand”. Write pieces of paper with questions about God or life that make your head tired and put them in the box. Then pray and say: “Lord, you know the answers – I trust you.”
3. Memorise a verse
Memorize Romans 11:33. Every time you recite it, remember that God’s wisdom is infinite
Do this Bible study in Afrikaans:
