SEARCH & FIND

When my three grandsons come to visit, I can count on #3 (in first grade) wanting to do one of two things (after the traditional snack time). It's typically either play checkers with me (he'd play chess, too, if I was willing and knew how—remember, he's only first grade!) or do the “word search” puzzle in the local newspaper. That's the brain-teaser feature that disguises words going up, down, backwards and diagonally. He's a pint-sized pro at that. Did I say he was only first grade? So we sit at the kitchen table and search for all the words.

His enthusiasm for this newspaper word puzzle feature astonishes and amuses me. And I also think of how the Bible pictures “searching” in Proverbs. Presumably written by Solomon (considered the “wise” king, although his marital and fatherly life wasn't necessarily wisdom-saturated), it's full of aphorisms that seem simple at first glance. Then they deepen.

In the case of my puzzle-loving grandson, I think of Proverbs 2, and its admonition to seek wisdom and understanding. Most memorable (and often memorized) are verses 1-5. Don't skim over these. Though they seem repetitive, they are like different perspectives on the whole theme of living according to God's plan:

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

I don't know how they mined silver in Solomon's day. It was probably labor-intensive and dangerous. Today's silver industry digs deep into the earth for silver laden rock, which then goes through extensive processing to produce the metal in demand for (besides jewelry) electrical contacts and circuit boards, solar panels, electric vehicles, and 5G devices. See more at: Visualized: The silver mining journey from ore to more - MINING.COM

How does one “mine” the spiritual silver? By the deliberate, ages-old “technique” of reading, understanding, and applying the warnings and commands of scripture. In her book My Heart's Cry: Longing for More of Jesus (W Publishing, 2002, p. 128) Anne Graham Lotz (daughter of the late evangelist Billy Graham) shared her “mining” tips. Every morning, before her “day” gets going, she goes to a place in her home where she keeps her Bible, notebooks, devotionals and writing supplies. For the next hour she reads scripture, jots insights, and prays, seeking to apply to her life the principles she “mined” from her scripture reading.

In short, she adds one word to the title of this blog: Search, Find, APPLY.

The “apply” task is what's sorely missing in the word puzzles my grandson loves to solve. They may be fun, but the words are randomly placed. God's hidden treasure is extracted by prayer and a heart desiring to be—as Mrs. Lotz phrased it in the subtitle of her book--”longing for more of Jesus.”