If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasure … – Proverbs 2:4When things get busy like this, it’s very easy for me to jump out of bed and get straight to work. A consequence is that it becomes more difficult to spend time in God’s Word and in prayer.During an expansion of our church, my friend Mike would go out at the end of the day and literally dig through the construction dumpster looking for any type of metal. Amused, I gave him a hard time until he explained that his previous “trash collection” yielded him $67 at the local metal recycling center. A week later, a friend of mine was throwing out a weight bench. I, now well aware of this little treasure trove of metal recycling, gladly took it off his hands. I spent time disassembling the bench and loading the weights in my Explorer. I collected a few more metal items that were being thrown away. Then I drove to the recycling center early one morning. Now, I know this isn’t much, but that $36.75 I earned felt like I’d struck gold. “Free lunch today!” “What else can I recycle?”
Just yesterday I read these words in Proverbs, “if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasure.” It was referring to wisdom and understanding, which comes from the Word of God. It resonated in my soul. I thought of how I would search for scrap metal as a little hidden treasure. I would expend energy to find it and collect it. I would wonder if anyone else was throwing away perfectly good metal. Oh, the madness! I think you can see where I’m going with this metaphor.
So, what are you passionate about finding? Praise from your friends or peers? Recognition for all those long hours you’ve been putting in?For what are you searching and seeking? A raise? More benefits? A spouse? A better technical system?
Are you hungry enough to slow down long enough to listen?I’m not suggesting that these are all bad. However, I had to stop to ask myself, “By comparison, of all of the things you seek in life … how hungry are you for gaining wisdom and understanding from God? How hungry are you for fresh Bread from Scripture? Are you hungry enough to slow down long enough to listen?”
If we find ourselves being too busy to spend time hearing what God has for us in Scripture, then we must act. We must rearrange, reprioritize, delegate, or say “No.” Or perhaps stop being too lazy to do something. Seek it out like silver. Search for it like hidden treasure. It holds wisdom and understanding. It is living and active. It is the very words of our living God.
Let’s look at that verse and other verses in the context:
Proverbs 2:1-5 NASBS
My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, [2] Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; [3] For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; [4] If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; [5] Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God.
V. 1. Treasure: Hebrew “tsâphan” (tsaw-fan’), Verb, A primitive root; to hide (by covering over); by implication to hoard or reserve; figuratively to deny; specifically (favorably) to {protect} (unfavorably) to lurk: – {esteem} hide (-den {one} {self}) lay {up} lurk (be set) {privily} (keep) secret ({-ly} place).
V. 2. Wisdom: Hebrew “châkam” (khaw-kam’), Verb, A primitive {root} to be wise (in {mind} word or act): – X {exceeding} teach {wisdom} be (make {self} shew self) {wise} deal (never so) {wisely} make wiser.
So from v.1 we find our treasure, something to hoard or hide secretly like it is of great value. And what do we seek as if it’s as valuable as silver? She’s “wisdom” from v.2. This leads to respecting the Lord, and his knowledge.
V. 4. Treasures: Hebrew “maţmûn”, (mat-moon’), Noun; a secret storehouse; hence a secreted valuable (buried); generally money: – {hidden} {riches} (hid) treasure (-s).
V. 5. “discover the knowledge of God.”
Discover: Hebrew “mâtsâ” (maw-tsaw’), Verb; properly to come forth {to} that {is} appear or exist; transitively to {attain} that {is} find or acquire; figuratively to {occur} meet or be present:
To come forth – to bring into view something that was hidden or unknown, find and obtain, and in a figurative sense to be in the presence of.
Knowledge: Hebrew “da‛ath” (dah’-ath), Noun; knowledge: – {cunning} [ig-] {norantly} {know(-ledge}) [un-] awares (wittingly).
We may gloss over this phrase. But what if we had the “knowledge of God? What could be the outcome? Would it change our reactions to hardships? To our perception of the future? To those around us?
The promise in this passage is that if we receive his words and treasure it, listen for it intently, open your heart to it, skillfully perceive it, seek and search it out, then you’ll have the knowledge of God!
This is something that is revealed to you, as in Gen 3:7:
Genesis 3:7 NASBS
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
Did Adam and Eve work hard to understand their nakedness? No, it was revealed to them by God. Just because we can’t understand an issue does not mean we won’t, only that God has not revealed it to us.
Consider God's Word 