Bible Studies
Treasure Hunting in Gods Word
"Treasure" hunting is a lot of fun. I like to Gold Prospect, Metal Detect, and Geocache. These are all fun and rewarding hobbies, but the most rewarding "treasure" hunt is found in Gods Word Proverbs 2:1-9. If you want to find some real treasure that will benefit your life you should follow the instructions found in this passage.
Hidden treasure is fascinating. That is why people are always interested in maps, pirates, lost history etc. The funny thing is that folks are usually willing to work very long and hard to find a possible hidden cache. See the oak island money pit for an example: Oak island is located off the coast of Nova Scotia in Canada. Since the mid-19th century people have been looking for loot on this island. (Lost Histories by Joel Levy 2006 pp 145-153) Franklin D Roosevelt, and John Wayne have even spent money trying to excavate the "pit" on this island in order to retrieve the supposed hidden treasure, not to mention the fact that at least 5 men have died in the pursuit, but to no avail. At this point so many parallel shafts have been dug (in order to offset the flooding problem) that the original "pit" cannot even be located for certain.
The reason this is funny to me is that even if such treasure were uncovered no matter how much was found, the benefits of such a treasure would be temporary. In opposition however the treasure found in Gods Word are eternal (Philippians 4:18). Even though men would give their very life in pursuit of temporal things they don't even want to give an hour of there day to eternal things. I am going to liken studying Gods Word to Gold Prospecting in order to illustrate my point.
When gold prospecting you must know where to look. I mean you could just go out into your backyard and start digging, and maybe you would get lucky and find some gold, but it is not likely. You would be much better off to do some research, and pick a more likely area to search. The best places to look these days is going to be in an area that has access to some water; weather that be a stream, river, ocean or the like. Then you must decide where to look in that area. Once you have determined that (which is the easy part) then the real work must begin. It would be beneficial to have the right tools. A shovel, bucket, and gold pan are essential. It would be helpful to have some other equipment as well. Such as a sluice box of some sort. The better your equipment the more material you can sift through in order to find the gold.
You will have to sift through a lot of material in the process. In fact you will have to sift through the same material a couple different times. You will need to classify the material (get rid of the big obvious stuff that doesn't belong). Then you will run the material through the sluice box in order to further classify the material (getting down to the nitty gritty now). The first and second sifting gets rid of most of the over-burden, and leaves you with what is commonly referred to as the concentrates. Once you are down to the concentrates is when the gold pan comes into play.
The panning process can be learned quite easily. Once you are down to your concentrates you need to fill your pan up about half way. Secondly you should completely submerge your pan in water (if panning on location it would be a good idea to use another pan or a tub underneath your gold pan in order to eliminate loss.) next begin swirling your pan while under water slowly until about half of the material has washed out. This gets rid of most of the overburden, and leaves you with super concentrates. Next lift the pan out of the water, and begin to slowly swirl it while tilting down in the direction of the ridges in your pan; when the water is all gone re-dip the pan in the water to refill. Continue this process until most of the material is gone, you should be left with very little material, and if you have any gold it should be visible now.
The final step is to separate, and retrieve your gold; using a snuffer bottle can do this. As you can plainly see it takes a lot of work to end up with any gold; not to mention the fact that most of the time you can go through this process and not end up with any gold at all, but this small fact doesn't seem to deter people from the hobby.
Bible study is much the same way, lets take another look at Proverbs 2:1-9:
"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searches for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path." (KJV)
In order to find the treasure that God has in store for you the first thing you must consider is where to look. Just like gold prospecting; if you're not looking in the right place you will never find what it is that you are looking for. Deuteronomy 30:11-14 shows us that
Gods word isn't hidden: According to Isaiah 45:18-19 God says that he hasn't spoken in secret; Not in a language that only a select few know so that you would have to rely on someone else to tell you what God said. Vs 19
Isaiah 29:10-14
In Proverbs 8 Gods word is called wisdom. You can plainly see that the wisdom that is being described is in form of words by what Proverbs 8:8 says, and we can also see that these words are written plainly so that they can be understood. According to Isaiah 29:10-14 The Bible is sealed to those that don't have the right heart. In other words: if your approach to Gods word isn't right than God will not show you what it is that you need from him. If not searched for with the right motives the treasure you are seeking will evade discovery by you. If you approach Gods Word with the right heart, that is not trying to find something wrong with it, but rather allowing it to show what is wrong with you, then the word will be plain to you. However if you find yourself unwilling to change, and are just seeking justification for your wants, act, and desires than God promises to seal the book up so that you will not gain any understanding from it. Gods Word will show you what to or what not to do, and if you will listen to Gods Word it will bring peace, and righteousness into your life. See Isaiah 48:12-18
Psalm 119:89 tells us that Gods Word was settled in heaven so we can trust what it says. According to Psalm 119:97-106 we can see that by reading, studying, and giving head to Gods Word we can gain more understanding than the professors down at the college, and we can see the path that we should follow. Psalm 119:105 says that Gods Word is out lamp in this dark world. If you went on an expedition of a cave with no light you would undoubtedly bump your head on rocks above, trip over rocks below, and probably fall down a time or two. Who in their right mind would go into a dark cave, room or even an alley without the proper light? Yet how many times do we try to go through our lives without utilizing the Light that God has given us? Proverbs 30:5-6 shows us that Gods words are pure; this means that we can fully trust what it says. They are right, and they are profitable to us. How else would we know what to do, and where to go, and how to be pleasing to God; if it wasn't for the fact that we have his word on it, and know it Psalm 119:9-11, and 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Next must know how to classify the material you have studied in order to eliminate the over burden (the things that don't apply in today's situation), and get to the concentrates (the things that you need to concentrate on today) 2 Timothy 2:15.
When studying Gods word you must always take it literally when possible. That is how it is written. If a passage is intended to be spiritualized it will be evident in the context of the passage: see John 6:51-63. John 6:63 makes it clear that Jesus was not having them gnaw on his actual flesh. That would be a violation of the Law (commanded not to eat blood in Leviticus 7:26, and Leviticus 17:11-14. Jesus never broke the Law of Moses according to Hebrews 4:14-15.
The Bible has divisions, and they must be adhered to in order for it to be understood in its proper light. The divisions are self-evident, they are not up to individual interpretation as seen in 1 Corinthians 2:12-14, and 2 Peter 1:16-20, we are to interpret scripture with scripture.
These divisions are referred to as dispensations: a dispensation is nothing more than a dispensing of something. Hebrews 1:1 says that God has dealt with different people in different ways at different times. If you are to understand what God is saying you must see who he is saying it too, and see how it could possibly apply to you today.
All scripture was written for our admonition, and our learning, and it is profitable to us if applied properly.
Once the material has been classified we must then begin the sifting process. Just like when panning for gold, in order to get the true treasure out of scripture you must sift through a lot of material. In most cases going through the material just one time is not going to reveal the nuggets of scriptural truth. You must dig deeper and deeper, asking yourself discovery questions along the way in order to un-earth the treasures that God has in store for you inside his Word.
If you want to find some treasure that will not pass away, but have everlasting effect on your life than I suggest you get digging in Gods Word today. The treasure that can be found in Gods Word is limitless. Here are a few treasures that you may want to start out with.
· 1 John 1:1-14 shows us that it is possible to a personal relationship with your creator The Lord Jesus Christ.
· John 14:22-26 shows us that Gods Word itself is a treasure to be coveted after, because it is the way in which the Lord has chosen to manifest (or show) himself to his believers.
· 2 Corinthians 4:1-11, along with 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 shows us the Gospel; by which if you believe, and accept you will gain Eternal Life which is a gift from God by Jesus Christ, and is the best treasure known in the universe.
So start a daily Bible reading plan today, which you may start on a real treasure hunting adventure right from home.
Paul J Mahler copyright © 2008 Use with credit.
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