Looking For Diamonds

I was reading a magazine the other day and discovered an article that I found quite interesting. The article was about a state park here in the U.S. called “Crater of Diamonds State Park". It turns out that this place was a diamond mine some time ago. But over time the amount of precious stones excavated became so small that it was no longer good business to keep the mine open. The mine then became a state park and was opened to the public. Now, for an admission price, you can dig for diamonds in what was once the mine and you get to keep whatever you find. I did a little research about this and found that this park is visited by people from all over the country and abroad. The park is visited by many people, who go in search of precious stones, and there are some who find diamonds, but most return home having found only common stones. Why am I telling you all of this?

The reason I have told you about this magazine article is because on a daily basis all of us make decisions, or take determination that will influence our life for either good or bad. Unfortunately, there are many who rarely make or take the most important decision or determination that as believers we should take. What decision or determination am I speaking about? The most important decision or determination that a believer must make is to know God better. Now the question is: how can we know God better? We can know God better by studying and meditating on His Word daily, but this is not something that happens in the life of many. The reality of all is that most of God’s people open their Bible only when they come to church; this on average is once or twice a week. One reason why this happens is because many say and think that God’s Word is too difficult to understand, in other words they think that God’s Word is full of common stones, common stones being all of those things that at times we fail to understand. But the truth of it all is that God’s Word is not full of common stones as many think; God’s Word is full of diamonds. God’s Word is full of treasures that sustain, inspire, and help us persevere; it demonstrates God’s love and reveals His will for us. Now the question that remains is: how can we mine diamonds from God’s Word? This will be our topic for today; today we will examine three steps that we should take if we really want to mine diamonds from God’s Word. Let’s now turn to the scriptures that will reveal the steps to follow.

Proverbs 2:1-5 – My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, 2So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; 3Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, 4If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.

To achieve a better understanding of the message that God has for us today, we will need to know some brief details about the book of Proverbs and its author. I say this because although all of us have a general knowledge of this book and its author, very few have good knowledge or a good understanding of the great significance of this book in the Bible. However, its purpose and meaning is something that is clearly stated in Proverbs 1:2-4 when we read: “…To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding, 3To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, judgment, and equity; 4To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion…” As we can see, this is an important book because it is full of powerful messages of wisdom. This book contains powerful tips of how we should act on certain occasions, and how we should behave when we truly seek to please God.

The book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom because most of the book was written by Solomon. And as we all know, Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. Note at how this is something that is well illustrated in 1 Kings 4:29 when we read: “…And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore…” With this here we see that Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived, and he left us a legacy of wisdom written in three volumes which are: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. But have you ever asked yourself: what is a proverb? Proverbs are a series of short statements, concise, which involve a moral truth. So we can confidently say that the book of Proverbs is a collection of wise statements. In other words, Proverbs is a collection of concise statements that are commonly received, and that in most cases contain doctrine or morals. Keeping these brief details in mind, let’s now continue with our study for today and discover the steps that we must follow if we want to mine diamonds from God’s Word.