Not long ago, I took my son and his friend for a walk. When we got to the front of our neighborhood, I asked them if they’d like to climb down the 20 foot drop off to go down to the river bed. Their eyes got wide with excitement and definitely wanted to. When we got to the bottom, they began scouring the ground for rocks. One of them found a red rock and exclaimed, “I found a ruby!” Another one held up a black rock and yelled back, “I found obsidian!” They would also pick up other rocks and ask what kind of gems they were. Even though there weren’t any real gems down there, they were searching hard for them, turning over each rock and examining them. They wanted to find something of value badly and it was difficult to pull them away from that area.
I’ve been reading the Bible chronologically this year. Today will be my last reading in the first five books of the Bible. There’s a lot more about the Law in those books than there are stories, but over and over again, God says that these words bring life. He wanted them, and us, to bind them on our heart, our arms and our forehead. He wanted us to treasure His Word so that we would obey it. In Deuteronomy 30:19, God said, “I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God’s blessing and God’s curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life” (GNT). The choice was to obey or disobey His Word. He wants us to value and cherish what He says. If we value it, we will search through it, seek to understand it and obey it.
Davis was someone who valued God’s Word. He treasured it and thought of it as such. In Psalm 19:10 he wrote, “The rarest treasures of life are found in his truth. That’s why God’s Word is prized like others prize the finest gold” (TPT). You and are need to not only treasure God’s Word, but to search through it like we’re on a treasure hunt. Dig through it daily, hold it up, examine it and ask questions about it. What may seem ordinary or old fashioned to many, actually contains hidden treasures, real truth and ultimately life. If we treat His Word as ordinary, it will lose its value in our lives and we’ll begin to see it as just a good book instead of God’s treasure given to us. When you read the Bible, don’t just read it to check off a Christian duty box. Search through it as if you’re searching for treasure and you will find the rarest of gems and life along the way.
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 