Looking for and finding God's hidden treasure
"If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God." (Prov. 2:4-5 NKJV)
People sometimes tell me that they can't understand the Bible so they don't read it. I tell them that they are making it too hard. They should just read it a little at a time and then think about what they have read. It helps, too, to ask God for wisdom and understanding as they read.
My brother, David, loved to search for hidden treasure. He had a great metal detector that he used to comb parks and beaches. It could detect certain kinds of metals buried at different depths of the ground. When he found something, (the detector would beep) he would dig to get it.
Search for hidden treasure!
In a similar way, the Bible says to search the scripture like searching for hidden treasure, then "you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God" (Wow, what a huge promise!) I look for some specific things when I read the Bible such as: sins to forsake, promises to claim, examples to follow, commands to obey, and stumbling blocks or errors to avoid. When reading a passage of Scripture I don't find all of these things in every verse I read but I always find some of these things. It's fun and rewarding to search for them, to find them, and then to apply them personally.
Put on your "spiritual glasses"
I use a simple Bible study method that helps me "search for hidden treasure" while reading the Bible. In each verse or passage that I read I "put on my spiritual "specs" (glasses) and I then look for these specific things.
SPECS
- S - Sins to forsake.
- P - Promises to claim
- E - Examples to follow
- C - Commands to obey
- S - Stumbling blocks or errors to avoid.
This is how I am able to find so many exciting promises in the Bible!