Hidden Treasures

Treasures are all around you if you'll just wake up and look for them.

Several days ago I put a photograph with a Bible verse on my Facebook Page. I just looked at it again and was amazed at the depth of the meaning of the verse. When I first posted it, I thought it was a very encouraging word to me and possibly to others but then when I looked at it again the second and third time, I saw things that I'd missed.

Isn't that typical of God's Word? I love the Bible. I read from Scripture every day but I am ashamed to say that I don't come close to digging into it for the treasures that it has to offer me.

I live in the Ozarks but I grew up in Vermont. Vermont's foliage outshines every other state in the Union. Maybe I'm a bit prejudiced. The foliage here in the Ozarks is beautiful too. It doesn't compare with the bright orange maples that cover the hillsides and mountains in Vermont. But the Ozarks has its own brand of autumn beauty. And if you can't see it, you're blind.

This has got to be one of the prettiest Falls that I've ever seen here in Missouri. I was sitting in the house the other day thinking about how gorgeous the trees were and how badly I wanted to escape my work so I could take a drive. There was too much to do. But I listened to my heart, jumped in the car and went exploring.

And I'm so glad I did. It was a treasure just waiting to be experienced. I knew it was there but unless I got up and forced myself to get out and see it I would have missed it. As I drove I was filled with awe. And that awe led to worship. I sensed very strongly that God delighted in watching me enjoy His creation.

My grand kids spent the day with me a few days ago. It was busy and fun and noisy and messy. I would have gotten a lot more done and had a much cleaner house had they not come but I would have missed the treasure of having them with me. Listening to their laughter, their silly arguments, their crazy imaginings, watching them work on art projects. All of it filled my heart with joy.

What a treasure!

I could have just sat at home in my comfort zone and chosen to not have them come. But thank God I made the decision to spend that day with them, because of the pleasure that I experienced.

In a way, God's Word is the same. But much more so. It's there waiting to be explored. There are so many amazing truths we can discover if we're willing to forsake the easy path and take the steps necessary to dig.

The particular verse that caught my attention was Psalm 16;11; “You make known to me the path of life; in your Presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Wow! Don’t let those words slip by without thinking about them. Or without praying about them. In God’s Presence “there is fullness of joy”! What does that even mean? I’m sure you’ve experienced joy in His Presence, but FULLNESS of joy? And “pleasures forevermore”!

I think God has a boatload of joy and pleasures planned for His children and He can barely wait to dump it on us. Some of it, He wants to give us now, here on earth, as we take the steps to draw closer to Him and begin to experience His Presence as never before. Others He has planned for when we finally step into our real home.

He beckons us to draw closer; to give up the things that hinder us and get ready to receive true treasures that will fill our souls and satisfy our deepest longings.

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12:32-34)

What will it be? Same old comfort, same old drudgery? Or the adventure of digging deeper for the treasures He longs to give us? The treasures he created us to receive.

“In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” (Psalm 119:14‭-‬16)

“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:16‭-‬23)