Mine WISDOM.
1/23/2012 12:41:54 AM
Jan 22, 2012~Retrospective
Mine wisdom.
I have been reading through the Proverbs lately—one a day . . . (and since there are 31 of them, one can read through this sage book once a month!) The writer of the proverbs has a lot to say about wisdom, most importantly that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
In the second chapter of Proverbs, something caught my eye; that line of Scripture kept coming back to me, again and again. That is the way the Holy Spirit gets my attention and wants me to consider more thoroughly, and perhaps even write about, what is being taught. Solomon said of wisdom, “if you look for it as silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:4-5
‘If you look for it as silver…’ ‘huh,’ I thought, ‘how is silver mined?’ I grabbed my i-pad which was nearby, as I had my morning time with my Lord, and just googled the question. Suffice it to say, that silver is not come by easily. My Bible cross-referenced Job chapter 28, which I looked up, and began to read, “There is a mine for silver ?and a place where gold is refined. ?Iron is taken from the earth, ? and copper is smelted from ore. ?Man puts an end to the darkness; ?he searches the farthest recesses ?for ore in the blackest darkness. ?Far from where people dwell he cuts a shaft, ?in places forgotten by the foot of man . . . He tunnels through the rock…” All this talk of metals, recesses and darkness, and yet of course, wisdom is found in God, not in any mine.
But what did he mean to ‘look for it as silver’? I have been pondering the question.
First of all, a person only looks for silver because it is of value…so wisdom should be valued—highly. Second, one should be willing to realize that wisdom is not easily obtained. While God is its source, he gives it to his children, when they ASK, and have FAITH that he will supply it. (James 1.5) God gives wisdom to his children when they look to his WORD to understand and apply it, and God grants wisdom to his children when they choose to trust him through the MATURING processes and weather life’s storms, knowing that a loving God is shaping them.
This weekend, I took my youngest son, Danny, to Park City, Utah, to visit his best friend, Cameron, who recently moved there with his family. We drove by an old snow-covered silver mine, which drew my rapt attention!
My friend told me of the time he had taken his children down into the mine on a ‘tour’, so to speak. It sounded like my own personal nightmare as they took an elevator down, down, into the recesses of the earth where it was, of course, pitch black, (save for their ‘miner’s helmets’), and then took open railcars along the floor of the mine all over beneath the town of Park City, Utah. (I found my breathing growing shallow just listening--claustrophobia welling up in me!) Yet, that was what Solomon was talking about—those miners of yesteryear—the ones that were drawn to this area to settle it originally—came for those silverveins, rich in the Utah mountains. Think of it, they risked a lot to tunnel down to get that silver, especially the original pioneers.
Do I value wisdom enough to spend time to dig for it--reading, studying and truly applying the deep treasures from God’s Word? Do I value wisdom enough to read the writing of great minds who have gone places my mind has never imagined? Do I value wisdom in such a way that I seek out the company of those who know and have experienced far more than I? Oh, the treasure trove of wisdom to be found in the life lived seeking after the heart of God! Wisdom –look for it like silver.
Christine