To Those Who Find Them

Proverbs 4:20 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.

21. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart;

22. For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.

Life and health sounds like a good way to go. I don’t know about you but that sound a lot better than the alternative which would be death and sickness. God’s words are life to those who find them. So my question would be; what about those who don’t find them? The implication is that some find them and some don’t. I believe we have a part to play in finding as the finding definitely requires our participation. We often want to just put things off on God and hope He will take care of everything without our involvement, however when you study the Word of God we see this is not the case at all. Lets take a look some of the things we must do in order to fulfill our part in finding.

The first thing Proverbs 4:20 declares is to give attention to His words. Other translations say to listen, or pay attention to my words. One translation says to listen carefully. This is definitely our part to play in finding. We can not find His words if we won’t first pay attention to His words. The amount of attention you pay to His words is a direct reflection of how much you actually pay attention to Him. It shows honor and respect for Him.

Secondly we are told do not let them depart from our eyes. The -- Living Bible says it like this…

Proverbs 4:21 Keep these thoughts ever in mind; let them penetrate deep within your heart. I like that. God will do the revealing but we have to do our part as well.

And thirdly, keep them in the midst of your heart. We are being told to keep what we have found. It is our responsibility to do the keeping. Life and health are dependent on us keeping the Word of God once we have found it. I realize in many Christian circles this is not what is typically taught. We have to find and then keep His Word before the life and health are manifested.

If it were all up to God why would He tell us in His Word to do these things?

If you study the Word of God you will find this is a recurring theme. We are told to keep the Word before our eyes, bind it upon our hearts, not to let it depart from our mouths.

I don’t want to belabor this point, however I believe many Christians miss it right here and never even know they have missed it. If the Word of God is not first place in our lives then we will never find the life and health that is promised to us. That’s a very sobering thought, so we should be motivated to find out exactly what we can do and also find the things that are hindering us from doing these things in order to get and keep the life that God has promised us.

I know this is of great importance to the Lord. Several years ago this truth was made very real to me. I was awakened very early, approximately 3:45 A.M. I normally get up early, about 4:30. I went from a very deep sleep to instantly and totally wide awake. I didn’t know what was going on so I listened thinking maybe there had been a noise, however it was very quiet in my house. So I just sat there in the bed and listened. As I was setting there in my bed straining to hear; the Lord spoke to me. He said get up, get your Bible and turn to Luke the 8th chapter, I want to show you something. I’ve never had an experience quite like this before. I said yes Sir and did as I was told. I grabbed my Bible and a notebook and started to read. As I began to read, it was like a giant light was turned on in my spirit and revelation began to flow. I saw the importance of this truth so clearly. I would ask you to get your Bible out and read this section of Scripture in Luke’s account of the parable of the sower and ask God to show you this truth that is so powerful. I will put a portion of it here but not the whole thing because of space.

Starting with verse 10. And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that `Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' 11. "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12. "Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13. "But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. 14. "And the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15. "But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.