Rejoicing As at Great Treasure

 

Rejoicing As at Great Treasure

The pirate’s life is a continual search for treasure.  The victorious soldier returns from battle carrying the spoils of war.  People of all nations fight for treasure, lie for it, murder for it; yet often cannot obtain it.  If they capture it, they very often cannot keep it.  If they retain it for a while, they must finally relinquish it all at the doors of death.

By contrast to this mad scramble for the glittering baubles of this world, those who are Christians are after a totally different prize.  The Psalmist of our text today declares, “I rejoice at Thy word, as one that finds great treasure.”  The Word of God is, to the believer, the greatest of treasures to gladden the heart.  When we say that it is the greatest of treasures, let us visualize a chest full of rare and precious valuables.  That chest is the Bible.  In it we find the accumulated gold of God’s wisdom and the jeweled casket of His Holy Character.  It is full of the silver of right speech, like “apples of gold in pictures of silver.”  It contains the Jewel of Christ’s Person, the Hope Diamond of All Saints. We have the emeralds of His sayings, the sapphires of His deeds, and the rubies of his relationships. It is written in the currency of His incorruptible gold.  It abounds with the diamonds of Divine guidance which cause the path of the just to shine more and more, as they reflect the glory of the Sun of Righteousness.  It contains the cheque book of the promises of God, all signed with the Divine signature.  It overflows with the exquisite perfume of the spices which anoint the King’s garments, which drape the interior, along with the “fine Linen” which is “the righteousness of the saints.”  The people of God prize that Word “as one that finds great treasure.”  They will travel for it, dig for it, pay for it, guard it, fight for it, cling to it, and die for it.  It is their meat and drink. By this valuable Word God’s people gain and retain glad hearts.

It gladdens their hearts at the graveside so that they “sorrow not even as others which have no hope.”  It gladdens their hearts when they are in a quandary for guidance, for if they lack wisdom they may ask God and not be chided or denied.  It gladdens them in days of poverty by causing them to realize that their treasure is not material, but spiritual.  It gladdens them in prosperity because they know that God has blessed them in order to make them an instrument of blessings to others.  It gladdens their hearts by enabling them to look at the past through the covering of atoning blood, to look at the present with fullness of confidence in Divine good will, and to look at the future on the basis of unshakable provides.

How abundantly has Our God endowed us with this treasure which we are to hide in our hearts and which thieves cannot remove from our possession.  Today mingle your voice with that of the Psalmist unto God, and sing, “I rejoice at the word, as one that finds great treasure.”

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice