Series in Proverbs - What do You Treasure?

 

What do You Treasure?

Proverbs 2:1-6

A while back, I was confronted with verses from God’s Word that made me step back and examined myself. I read Ps. 86:11-12; Matt. 6:21; Rev. 2:4b-5a. “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore.” “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” “...you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…” I have loved God’s Word since the first day I received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of my life. The question to me was do I love Him and His Word as much now as I did in the beginning? And that started me on a renewed trek through God’s Word that has ignited me and enabled me to read through His Word in six months. But it isn’t just the reading, it is the life application of the Word of God to me, for that is truly where the treasure of knowing God, His Son, and His purpose and plan is; for God compares hidden treasure to wisdom, understanding, knowledge of God, the fear of God, and God's Word. These things are the hidden treasure that God wants to give. 

This led me to the Proverbs and wisdom. God gave me this simple acrostic “WUDII” Wisdom, Understanding, Discernment, Insight, and Instruction.

So let’s delve into the first portion of the lesson from the Word of God. “My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.”

Solomon again is leading his children into the wonderful depth of fearing God and knowing Him, His commands, and His purpose and plans for those who will seek Him, they will find Him. “But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.” (Deut.4:29)

Solomon understood something he probably got from his father, king David, the man after God’s own heart. “The humble shall see this and be glad; And you who seek God, your hearts shall live.” (Psalms 69:32) When Solomon was asked by God what He wanted as a young man, it was wisdom, understanding, and discernment of God’s Word in order to rule the Israelite people. “The Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.” (1 Kings 3:5-10)

Solomon, now an aged king, now breaks down the treasures of a discerning heart towards God. First, listening to the voice of God and from those who have received the hidden treasures from God, for His commands are a treasure trove for life for those who will listen. Second, receiving wisdom by watching, seeing, and listening to God, tune your ears to God’s frequency and leave it there. Third, concentrate on understanding, it simply means to actively seek to grasp the deeper meaning and principles within God’s Word, rather than just passively absorbing the words, and then applying that understanding to your life as if it was a precious treasure. Fourth, cry out to God for insight and instruction from His Word so that you not only hear but apply the Word as golden nuggets and valuable treasure. 

Application - I was truly ignited in the Spirit to seek the hidden treasures in His Word, not new revelations or a new word from God, for of this I’m sure, God has already given us everything we need in His written Word and revealed to us by His Spirit. The Holy Scriptures are a living Word, speaking to those who will seek wisdom, understanding, discernment, and instruction and insight for a treasured filled life.

I began examining my heart and my life that evening, do I really love God, My Savior and His Word as I did when I began my life-journey with Him. My awe-inspiring Father and my Lord Jesus, and His amazing Spirit gave the little acrostic WUDII to me, so that I would be reminded to seek and find His treasures that he had hidden for me in His Word as the Scriptures revealed.

It was like a child opening a gift everyday, and desiring to listen for more insight and instructions. He sometimes shouts, but mostly he speaks softly or whispers gently to my heart through His Word and Spirit. Trusting and relying on the Word of God is like setting your electronic device to a favorite station or program knowing that you will receive valuable nuggets of truth or wisdom for the day, week or month. 

For example, I was becoming totally disenfranchised with the teaching of God’s word by certain people in the christian world, it was deprived of the truth of God’s Word and was replaced with the teachings of man. I asked God for direction and He gave me Psalms 37. I especially was directed to verse 5-8, “Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.” So for a year I waited in His refuge of stillness He provided for me. In this time of yielding to Him, he generously gave me nuggets of wisdom, peace, understandings, and to discern the path that God had waiting for me to walk with Him, and He spoke through three person in one day the direction and the advice to go forward, and I have enjoyed the journey with Him, like the Israelites facing a gap in the Red Sea, purposely set for me to walk through with my wife. And when we got to the place he prepared for us He said through His word, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” “ I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Matt. 11:28-30; Phil. 4:12-13) And we are growing in Him daily.

Next, Solomon confidentially and tirelessly applies his exhortation to his children. So let’s read and apply the last portion of the text. “Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God. For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” 

Solomon wants his children to not only to obtain understanding for personal needs but getting  understanding that will lead them to truly fear the Lord. For God will see their eager desire and integrity of heart and they will gain knowledge and fear of God to their understanding. Solomon applies the same training as God had spoken to Moses on teaching the Israelites to train their children, “Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.” (Deut. 11:19 NLT) and Solomon’s father, King David, also repeatedly applied understanding of God in the writings of the Psalms to his children as well. “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day ... Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord…Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You.” (Ps 25:4-5,12-15,21 NKJV)

Solomon again grants that the source of all wisdom, understanding, discernment, insight of knowledge and instruction come from the mouth of the Lord our God who will give generously to all who will seek him eagerly with all their hearts, minds, soul, and strength.

Application - O how we need to understand that all of us need to fear the Lord, so that we will put Him first and foremost, and we will honor him with all our lives as Paul wrote to the Romans, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (Rom. 12:1-2 MSG)

God is always ready for those who will seek Him wholeheartedly and He will grant us wisdom in ever increasing measure as we give of ourselves as in tithing. Much like God’s admonition on giving in Malachi, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (3:9-10 NIV)

God will never short-change anyone who genuinely comes to Him, seeking Him with their whole-heart and soul. He will speak and give us more that we can imagine for He is a generous God, as Paul prayed in Ephesus, “ I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.” (3:16-21 NLT)

 

In closing this lesson that God will astonishingly grant you wisdom, understanding, discernment, insight and instruction in your everyday walk with Him, just as Moses spoke to God’s people, “But even there, if you seek God, your God, you’ll be able to find him if you’re serious, looking for him with your whole heart and soul. When troubles come and all these awful things happen to you, in future days you will come back to God, your God, and listen obediently to what he says. God, your God, is above all a compassionate God. In the end he will not abandon you,” (Deut. 4:29,31 NIV)

As always, I want to end with presenting the gospel in the form of the ABC’s of salvation for all those who have not yet received Jesus Christ for salvation. For Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He desires to reveal himself to you, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. He hears your prayers, and all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him. He will answer you if you will truly believe. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second,

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis

I have revised my webpage on Spiritual warfare. Please give it a look. Thank you. http://uss-warfare3.webnode.com