Indiana Jones and the ____________!

When I was helping my wife to get ready for bed last night I noticed that her nose was a little stuffed up, so I went over to the nightstand near her bed and reached out to grab the bottle of nasal spray that I keep there and realized to my shock that the spot was empty!  Then I remembered that I had used it earlier in the day for Piper and had left it in an “obvious place” in one of the front rooms, so that I would remember to put it back where it belonged and not have to go through a hide-and-go-seek game in order to find it… like I was doing right then!

The only problem was that I couldn’t recall where that “obvious place” was!  I made a dash into the dining room, kitchen, living room and then the guest restroom, eye-balled each room and still couldn’t find it!  Well, it was too late and I was tired and didn’t want to play that game anymore so, I grabbed a couple of mostly spent bottles that I keep on the dresser, shook them to find out which had the most ingredients in it and used that spray to meet my wife’s need.

Proverbs 4:22 tells us that the truths of God’s Word “are life unto those who find them, and health to all their flesh.” (KJV)  While continuing to study this section of scripture this morning, I noticed that the word translated “find” in the original Hebrew means “to secure, to get a thing sought, to find what is lost.”  That kind of sounds like I was trying to do last night with my wife’s nasal spray doesn’t it? 

Well, upon further examination I discovered that I might have come up a little short of the true meaning of that word and the sense it gives to Solomon’s instructions in this proverb.  The Greek translation gives greater depth of understanding to what he was attempting to teach.  Thayer’s Greek Definitions says it describes an action such as “to find by enquiry, thought, examination, scrutiny, observation, practice and experience; to find out for one’s self.”

I get the idea from that description that “finding” the inner truths of God’s Word entails more than just a casual glance or a half-hearted search… like I did last night!  Now on the other hand… before Piper and I bought our Mustang GT convertible back in the fall of 2014, I had preceded the purchase with four years of research and investigation concerning all aspects of the model I desired to someday acquire.  One of the first things I did when we returned to California from our stay in Oklahoma was to tape a photo of the car I thought I wanted on the wall in my study so I would see it whenever I walked into the room in order to keep the dream alive in me.

By the time I found the “right” car at a specialty dealership in Virginia on their website, I could tell you every detail about the model year I was looking for.  When everything finally came together, years later and many miles distant to that picture I had taped on the wall, our faith had grown from an entry level six cylinder model to the top of the line V-8, GT Premium with a tuned exhaust and loaded with extras!

In the years following the initial idea, I poured through information concerning that particular generation of the car on the internet, in books and in magazines.  We took countless trips to local dealerships and did daily web searches across the country for the particular model we desired, including the right combination of interior and exterior colors. By the time they delivered the car to our home, one could almost say that I had become somewhat of an expert on fifth generation Mustang models.

I believe that this is the same idea that Solomon had when he wrote this proverb.  In order to “find” the hidden gems that lie within the pages of God’s Word that lead us to “life… and health to all their flesh” we have to relentlessly search for and discover them.  It won’t happen with just an occasional, casual look.  No, we have to become like Indiana Jones as he searched across the globe for undiscovered artifacts that bring history to light and help to explain many of the unanswered questions concerning past cultures and present day customs.

By diligently searching through God’s Word, one will discover the historical facts for present day beliefs and truths as well as fountains of peace, love, joy, wisdom, honor, discernment and clean and pure direction for our daily lives.  Wow!  Just thinking about it gets me excited… what about you?

When you open your Bible up, do you find the heart and excitement of an explorer rising up inside you?  I sure do!  Have a great rest of the week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I expecting to discover new and exciting findings each time I open up my Bible?”