Treasure the Lord and put on your Armour

Proverbs 2:1-5, 7-8 “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 treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God…he stores up sound wisdom for the upright, he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the ways of his saints.”
I’d like to begin by asking a question: if you knew you could not fail-and not only that you could not fail, but greatly succeed, what would you do? Please, take a moment to think of your answer. Would you start an orphanage? A church? A company? Would you invent something? Go to school? Be a writer? Raise a large family? Go on a treasure hunt?
Mark Carlton read the passage above a few weeks ago and I began to question myself. Do I desire the Word of God? Do I seek it like silver and gold and search for it as for hidden treasure? Am I willing to struggle for it? Do I hold dear every piece I find because it means I am getting closer to him? And with every little piece that I find, is my joy and strength renewed and my faith in his promise encouraged?
Believer, if you are anything like me, your answer is, most often, no. I don’t treasure His Word, nor do I seek it as I ought to. And this is one thing he promises we will not fail in doing! “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 treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” Knowledge and understanding of the Lord should be our goal. But searching for treasure is a hazardous venture, be willing to take great pains, for within this passage there is a second promise; protection! “…he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.” Because Solomon transitions from treasure seeking right into the Lord’s protection, we can safely assume that treasure hunting and treasure guarding are dangerous occupations that believers must take on. Remember the story of Daniel and take hope! The law was passed that no one should pray to anyone but the king, lest he be thrown into the lion’s den. Daniel continued to pray to his God, he did not know whether the Lord would save his life or take him to Heaven to be with Him, yet he prayed without ceasing because his treasure was the Lord. And he was kept safe in that den by the power of the Almighty God! Think, also, of the stories you’ve heard of missionaries who have gone to terrible places to bring the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how they were tortured for it, even killed. I read their accounts in books like “Foxes Book of Martyrs” and marvel at their faith and peace and unwillingness to compromise the Word of God for the sake of a few more moments of life. They quote Scripture and sing praise to the King as their bodies burn and arrows pierce their sides. With tears of conviction streaming down my cheek as I write, I think to myself, “I have stopped reading the Word of God for so much less; a busy schedule and trivial entertainment.”
To connect this to the sermons we have been hearing over the last month, let us look at Ephesians 6:14-17 and see what we are to “put on” for protection. “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for our feet, having put on the readiness of the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”
Perhaps there needs to be a change in perspective. What is your treasure worth? Will you put on the armor of God and stand?

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