“If you seek it like silver,
then you will understand how to fear the Lord,
and you will discover knowledge about God.”
– Proverbs 2:4-5
In 2006 I heard Ray Vander Laan speak, and my supposed knowledge of scripture was tested and shown to be minuscule. I had arrogantly thought I had a decent grasp of the Book—not from reading it personally, but based on solid teaching as a youth. And in this moment, my eyes were opened up to my ignorance. “There is so much I don’t know,” I wrote in my journal, “and for the first time in a long time I realize how big the Bible is and how little of it I understand.” And so I was challenged to truly study my Bible.
But Bible Study began as grueling labor. It felt like I was digging in dry clay, occasionally finding a tiny flake of gold, which I estimated to bring little value in the marketplace. The enemy would whisper doubts, "Is this even worth the effort?" And I admit there were days I obviously succumbed to the thought, because I failed to even pick up my Bible for days or even weeks. But in faith, I continued to claw at the hard ground, resolved to keep the commitment to reading at least a verse a day.
After a season of testing whether my heart truly longed for righteousness (Mat 5:6), whether I was willing to get my hands filthy and blistered, the Lord sent a rain of good teaching and the soil softened. I found larger flakes of gold, and they appeared to become more abundant the further I dug. But I also began to find glittering specs that I set aside. The dig was becoming more exciting.
Then one day, God opened my eyes. The true treasure was not in acquiring biblical facts, or bettering myself as a person, or even for using this information to materially prosper. The true treasure was finding Him. I was searching for gold, when God had laid before me a diamond mine. Suddenly, I looked around and realized I had mined a mountain of precious gems that I had discarded as cumbersome rocks. But these rocks were far superior in value than the treasure I had expected to find.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. Then because of joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field.”
– Matthew 13:44
Now every morning I can barely put my hand in the soil before finding a fist full of them, well more than I could polish in a day. In fact, I feel so pressed for time, knowing that I don’t have enough time in the week to truly inspect each one. And then I see the sparkle still in the ground and know there is too much to lay hold of this coming year, or the next, or even over the precious decades I have left on this earth (God willing). In fact, I doubt an eternity would allow one to reach this treasure’s end.
“Because of joy,” dig deep this morning into the soil of His word. If you still cannot see the treasure, if the excavation feels laborious and you keep coming away with nothing but dirt and rock, just understand your eyes might still be focused on the wrong treasure (like Heaven’s asphalt, see Rev 21:21). So keep clawing away in faith. God is faithful and He will reward the pursuit (Jam 1:5-8)—you just might need to go through some testing first. Trust that He is good, and will eventually open your eyes to the treasure He has set before you (Mat 6:20-24).
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