Digging For Treasure
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,
3 and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds victory in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
Bee's Thoughts:
"If you"... "then you will". "For the Lord".... "then you will". These are principle of cause and effect. If you want the hidden treasure, you have to dig deep... no pain, no gain.
As a young Christian, I was taught that the Bible is God's 'love letters' to me and my prayers to Him are my responses to His words. As a more matured Christian now, I am able to discern if certain things said or done are scriptural as I could read or see them in context.
Thank God for that kind of teaching from young as it builds a solid foundation for me in my faith. I deligently read the Bible, memorized the scripture verses, and when the 'storms' and trials of life come my way, I stood firm in the solid 'rock' of God's words.
Yes, I still have times of discouragement, stress, heartaches, doubts, fears, etc... because I am still human. Yet I will never regret for being a Christian, and I will never give up my faith. God's words have been engraved onto my heart.
Dear Lord,
Thank You for Your 'love letters' to me to encourage me and to tell me that You love me so much. Though I can't see You, but I can feel Your love for me as I read them. I am very eager to open each one of them everyday to know what You want to say to me.
Thank You for reminding me today that if I do my part, You will do Yours. You will give me "victory" and be my "shield", "gaurd" and "protect" me. May I continue to have sweet fellowship with You in this way till I see You face to face. I miss You, Lord... very much! Amen.
Tommy's Thoughts:
I have to admit I haven’t really read through all the books in the Bible. There are not many verses I can remember or recall. I remember starting to read the Bible before I’m a believer out of curiosity. I can’t even finish Exodus back then. Now, I know my method of reading the words of God was wrong. I was reading it like a book that I need to finish. Through that, I failed to understand or find the great treasures that lie within it.
It’s only later I realized the right way to read the Bible. An incidence changed my perception of the value of the Bible; it became alive to me. I started reading it slowly and prayerfully with a heart of excitement and gratefulness for what God wanted to reveal to me at the end of each passage. And it does happened everytime! It’s really amazing how many nuggets of wisdom we can find in the Bible. It’s way more comprehensive and thorough than all the self-help books we can ever find. It covers everything we can ever imagine and more. The words are alive and they can totally change a person. It’s true that reading the Bible is like God speaking to us.
Dear Lord, thank you for Your words. Thank you also for reminding me to store up Your commands within me; to deeply understand and memorize them in my heart. Lord, I will continue to seek Your words like hidden treasures and to apply them in my life when I found them. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." - Hebrews 4:12”
.......the devotion of Bee & Tommy
