Searching For Treasure

It was just last week that McKinley and I were hanging out in Barnes & Noble … she was playing with the Thomas the Train setup they have there and I was reading (don’t you just love that they have comfy chairs in these big book stores … it’s like a library with all new books … and Thomas the Train … I think I may buy a book one day, just to say thanks). The book I had grabbed was not as good as I had hoped so I was looking for something else to read. Not wanting to leave McKinley I reached up and grabbed one of the kid’s books. It was a really cool picture/activity book about ancient Egypt. One of the pages covered the story of Howard Carter and his search for hidden treasure and artifacts.

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

(Prov. 2:1-5, ESV)

We are told to listen, concentrate, cry out and search for God’s wisdom, understanding and insight. We are to look for it like hidden treasure.

Howard Carter had been searching for 6 years in The Valley of the Kings in Egypt; so long that his boss told him that he would be fired because he had found nothing significant in so long. In 1922, after another long day of searching without success, he poked his head through an opening and was in awe of what he saw:

Over 3,000 pieces of treasure, 4 gilded shrines, inside which was a red quartzite coffin containing three nesting coffins. In the innermost coffin, which is made of solid gold and weighs about 250 pounds was a King wrapped in linen with an intricate golden mask … it was King Tutankhamen. For 6 long years he searched and had now found the treasure.

What diligence! Once again, we are told to listen, concentrate, cry out and search for God’s wisdom, understanding and insight. We are to "search for it like hidden treasures." We have the opportunity to be with Christ all the time and I sometimes find it hard to wake up 20 minutes earlier to read my bible … how much are we willing to search in scripture, in prayer, in silence and solitude, in Bible studies, with friends and spouses for an even greater treasure than Carter found… a vibrant, passionate relationship with Christ?