The world goes after gold. But the gold a Christian seeks is the wisdom and knowledge of God. I should go hard after such wisdom. Sadly, it is the tendency of my flesh to undervalue the wisdom and knowledge of God, and overvalue things that are easier to be had. No wonder the book which is so chock-full of wisdom begins with repeated exhortations to heed wisdom’s call and resist the tendency toward naiveté and simplicity. Neglect and complacency are the enemies of wisdom and understanding. To take my ease and be satisfied with my current understanding is a death knell for my soul. Rather I am called to a pursuit, a search, a quest for the wisdom and knowledge of God. To give up on this hunt is to heed the call of fools, which ends up in destruction. But to pursue wisdom and explore out its depths is to inherit treasures far beyond any earthly find.

I remember, as a kid, watching a television show about the discovery of a sunken treasure. From the ocean floor were brought up all sorts of valuable treasures. Gold coins, precious jewels, rare artifacts – they were worth millions. How exciting it was to imagine discovering such treasures. Afterward, I would pretend I was diving for these treasures as I swam down to the depths of my swimming pool. The show was exciting in part because of how hard these treasure hunters had to look in order to find it. They tried and failed many times before they hit the mother lode.

But no sunken treasure has enough gold coins to compare with the value of wisdom. Yet shinny things are often much more enticing than knowledge and understanding. God knows that simpletons like me are easily enamored with golden trinkets and so He calls out with a loud voice – “wake up! Don’t be fooled by gold – seek wisdom, get understanding, buy it and do not sell, keep it and it will bring joy and life.”

Thankfully, God’s call has awakened in me a desire to heed the warning and seek wisdom. But where am I to find it? There are many possible sources for attaining wisdom – many voices, many scholars and teachers. If I go to a bookstore to search for wisdom there are thousands of books willing to sell me their insights. But which of them should I choose? They all sound wise. They all offer plausible ideas. How am I to know which is true wisdom and which contain folly? Again, thanks to God, I have a guide, a rule directing me to the right place to dig for wisdom – “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

This bit of knowledge is very helpful, but I have another problem. There is a deep chasm preventing the progress of my quest for wisdom. The problem is that I don’t have the fear of the Lord. Honestly, I can say I want it, because it is right and true and holds great promise. I might even say that by the grace of God, I have a degree of the fear of the Lord. But how much do I truly tremble at His Word? Isaiah and John saw the glory of God and fell down flat, undone. Job was rebuked by the Lord and he repented in sackcloth and ashes, utterly silenced. My fear of the Lord is nowhere near theirs, and so I ought to be sober about how far I have entered into the beginning of wisdom.

And the fear of the Lord is just the beginning of wisdom. Not only is attaining the fear of the Lord not assumed or easy to attain, but getting it is only the beginning of wisdom – not its end or breadth, or depth, but just the door leading into a vast, infinite universe of the delightful wisdom and knowledge of God.

Therefore, while I have a map for wisdom, with the fear of the Lord as the “X” marking the spot to dig, the obtaining of wisdom is hardly automatic. Just because I know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom does not mean that I have much of it. It only means I know where to begin to look for it.

Am I making this too hard? Am I making wisdom out to be too hard to attain? After all why would God commend and command wisdom and then make it almost impossible to find? Has God taken something so essential to my life, so essential to my joy and concealed it? Indeed I believe He has.

“But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
Man does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
Nor can silver be weighed as its price.
It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx, or sapphire.
Gold or glass cannot equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.
Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;
And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.
The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.
Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living
And concealed from the birds of the sky.”
Job 28:12-21

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”
Proverbs 25:2

“At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.”
Luke 10:21

“But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;”
1 Corinthians 2:7

So no, I don’t think I’m making too much of the concealed nature of true wisdom. It remains true that the very wisdom I need for life and happiness, the wisdom that is necessary to avoid destruction and despair, is beyond my reach.

In the gospel, however it has been made known. Paul speaks of his ministry as the administration of a mystery. He spoke of his preaching the gospel, the message of the cross of Christ, as the revealing of all the wisdom which had for ages been concealed. Before Christ, wisdom was hidden beyond knowing. In Christ, the fullness of knowledge and understanding – the treasures of wisdom – are made manifest. What was obscured is now illuminated. What was mystery now has a solution. Christ is the wisdom from God and in Him are all the riches of this most precious wisdom from God. And the Lord has chosen to make Him known through the gospel so that I might know Him and enter into all the riches of this treasure trove- that I might inherit all the promises and blessings stored up in Christ. What glory – what riches are mine in Christ!

As a Christian I have been given the key to knowledge and understanding. I have been given a place to find and enjoy the treasures of wisdom. I have been given Christ – crucified for me. The world would never have thought of such wisdom, in fact it remains an enigma to those who reject the gospel and see only foolishness in the cross.

So having received the gospel, has my pursuit of wisdom ended? Have I entered in so that I may rest from the journey? No I cannot rest. The nature of treasure is still the same, it is valuable thus precious and rare. And so the hidden treasures of wisdom in Christ remain, in a sense, concealed in obscured. They’re hidden in Christ. The difference is, before Christ I had no access – regardless of how hard I tried to attain it. In Christ I have access – but still I must dig. The diamonds of wisdom and understanding are available to me in Christ – sadly, I often fail to seek them. I have received Christ through faith, yet the fullness of understanding is progressive and corresponds with the efforts or neglect I engage in. If I seek the treasures of Christ in the Word – reading, meditating, praying, asking, and pondering – they are there to be enjoyed. If I do not, I will miss out.

So the fear of the Lord is still to be pursued, and the blessings of wisdom are still to be acquired – and all the more vigorously since I have such a sure source and a certain place to dig. God delights to give me His treasures as I look to Him – so I must look.

Look then, O my soul. Set your mind on things above were Christ sits at the right hand of God. Delight yourself in all the treasures of the full assurance of understanding the knowledge of God – the glory of the mystery of the gospel – which is Christ Himself. Amen.