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.”

BASICS

Being around young grandchildren reminds one of all the challenges of learning to read. When we recently visited our pre-school granddaughter across the state, we quizzed her from a box of phonics cards. As she looked at each simple word, she mouthed the alphabet sounds and finally would say the whole word with a big smile. Her boy cousin, just 4 ½, isn't far behind. He goes to pre-school, but when visiting at our home, sometimes gravitates toward an old classroom phonics chart his grandpa picked up at a yard sale.

I'd never spring on them some of the obtuse “classics” I had to read in college! The “readers” I had in my childhood—like “Look, Spot!” and “Dick sees Jane”--gradually prepared me for the killer classes I had in Humanities and English lit. I remember the quarter I enrolled in Victorian lit. The assigned novels were about 4,567 pages long (just kidding) and the sentences went on for pages (just kidding, again). “Period” literature? I searched for the periods! The sentences were comma-heavy.

When young in faith, I had the same attitude toward parts of the Bible, like the prophets. They weren't easy-reads, like the Gospels. Their tone and historical background were part of the challenge in understanding them. I remember in particular this passage from Isaiah that caused amusement and consternation. What did it possibly mean!

“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little, and there a little.” (28:10)

I learned the prophet was trying to scold his people for being as immature spiritually as barely-weaned babies were, physically. At that time, because of national arrogance, apathy and sin, the people were headed toward destruction and imprisonment by a foreign nation. Despite Isaiah's warnings, they didn't turn back to God.

Yikes! A pretty heavy application point to connect to grammar and phonics! But is it possible that when we get slack about reading and meditating on scripture, we're apt to slip back into the ideas typical of the spiritually immature? Like the (not-in-the-Bible) saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” Wrong. He helps those who admit their helplessness and turn in trust and humility to Him.

Spiritual maturity and Biblical literacy are like good friends. They help each other. But the most important connection point is the Holy Spirit, helping us understand what's being said and how to apply it to our lives. We all start somewhere. Let's hear it for parents who start spiritual training early. At first it may seem as bland as “Spot runs after the ball.” Just think back to when that sentence was hard to read (if you can!) and thank God for the folks who taught you to read--and the others who introduced you to the Greatest Book of all.