Gerald Kennedy in his book The Christian And His America tells of
hearing the head of one of the largest airplane companies at a luncheon
where he was reporting on the situation facing America in the field of air
defense. He described the growth of our air force, and the probable
growth of the air strength of Russia. Then he made a major point and
said, "There is no such thing as a second best air force." If your planes
will reach an elevation of 50 thousand feet and your enemies planes will
reach 55 thousand feet, your fleet, for all practical purposes, is obsolete.
He added, "It is like having a second best hand in poker." You don't have
to know much about poker to get the point. There are some things in
which second best just doesn't count at all. Only first place is a winner.
This being the case, we must determine in our system of values what
those things are which must be supreme, and that can only be thought of
as first place only goals. In the realm of knowledge, for example, the
believer must recognize that the knowledge of God must be supreme. It is
a goal that must be in first place only, for if it is any less than first, and if
he tries to make it his second highest goal, then he has, for all practical
purposes, displaced God for an idol of some sort, which he has put in first
place.
Idolatry is a constant danger even for a Christian, just as it was for
the Old Testament saints. We must seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness. God said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This
is God's supreme demand. By His very nature God cannot tolerate any
other position than first place in the life of His children. He would not be
supreme if anyone or anything stood in a place of higher allegiance than
Himself. That is why Solomon makes it clear to his son that body, mind
and soul must be committed to the search if one is to find God's best. The
first place prize in anything does not go to the idle and indifferent, but only
to the diligent, and so it is in the search for God's wisdom. In a previous
message we have seen that Solomon taught his son he must be receptive,
retentive and responsive, or aggressive, and we want to pursue this last one
a little further. God must be to us what gold is to the miner, and what
wealth is to the miser.
I. DILIGENCE IS DEMANDED.
Solomon says the search for God's wisdom and guidance is to be on a
level with the search for silver and hidden treasure. The zeal and passion,
and even avarice of the human heart that drives men to face great dangers
and expend extra ordinary energy for the sake of treasure is the stand by
which our zeal for God is measured. If we put so little value on the riches
of God that we will not put forth the effort men put forth for earthly
riches, then we are unworthy of receiving them.
The godless man will search and labor for silver and wealth as if it
were the ultimate value, and ought not the godly then work for the true
ultimate value as if it were silver and wealth? In other words, saved and
unsaved people do not differ in their means, but they always differ in their
ends. The saved person always has the end of making God and His
wisdom first place in life. The unsaved may work just as hard using the
same means, but his end is that self may be in first place. The point
Solomon is making is, that the believer must exert as least equal energy to
attain the knowledge of God as the unbeliever exerts to gain his ambition of being rich.
This, remember, is not just a wise suggestion, but it is actually a
condition that must be fulfilled if one is going to understand the fear of
God and find the knowledge of God. Never that knowing God is easy.
Like treasure that is hidden it is only found by diligent digging. To expect
to know the infinite by being idol or indifferent is to expect the impossible.
The knowledge of God belongs only to those who seek for wisdom as the
greedy seek for wealth.
It is important to see that our part is to seek and exert the energy in
diligent search. It is God's part to see that we find. In the New Testament
we are urged to ask and it will be given, to seek and we will find, to knock
and it will be opened. It is our duty to ask, seek and knock, but it is God's
part to give, reveal and open. Solomon puts the Sovereignty of God and
the free will of man together in the same context, as if there were no
conflict. The Bible does not have a problem with the reality of both. It is
only a problem to systematic theologians who do not want to include both
in their system.
In verse 6, just after showing that God demands a diligent search for
wisdom, Solomon says that God gives wisdom. How can it be both a
reward for diligent effort and also a gift? This is easy to see, for God in
His sovereignty has chosen to give the gift of wisdom only to those who
diligently search for it. Without a willful commitment of some kind to God
there is no channel open by which God's gifts can be given. Even in the
New Testament where salvation is freely given through faith in Christ man
must will to receive that gift, or he is without hope. Even the song most
used to illustrate that man is not saved by anything he does shows that
man still has a part. It says, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy
cross I cling." The act of clinging to the cross is a choice of the person's
will necessary to gain the benefits of the cross. I point this out to show that
the theology of the Old and New Testaments are in perfect harmony, for
they combine the major truths of both Calvinism and Arminianism.
In the New Testament we say the free gift is not yours until you receive
it. Solomon is here saying that the free gift of God's wisdom is not yours
until you search for it diligently. Someone has said, "The truth without
the search for truth is only half the truth." In other words, the search is a
basic aspect of knowing the truth. It is certainly basic to knowing God. To
lack the desire and drive to dig diligently for this treasure is to lack the
faculty necessary to recognize it if you did discover it. However much
treasure of truth is present, it is not available to those who are without
receivers, any more than all the music being transmitted through the air is
available to those without a radio to receive it. An attitude of diligent
searching is the only antenna that will pick up the treasures of truth being
transmitted by God. The New Testament says that in Christ are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Notice that they are hid in Him, and
that is why it is necessary to search.
The wise men never would have found the Christ child if they had not
been diligent and persistent in their search. When the star no longer
guided them, they did not give up and go home. They used other means,
and they asked questions and sought the help of men. Their diligence was
rewarded by the reappearance of the star that led them to the child. This
is an historical example of the truth that those who seek shall find. They
searched for Christ as men search for silver and hidden treasure. This is
the proof that they were indeed wise men. Diligence is demanded in
finding any of God's riches, but when the demand is met God will certainly
keep His promise, and so we look to verse 5 and see just what it is that will
be the result of our diligent search for wisdom.
II. DEITY DISCOVERED.
Here the conclusion of all that has been said in the first 4 verses. Here
is the reward and God's part in the cooperative effort of God and His
children to arrive at the highest possible use of their lives. If believers
fulfill the first 4 verses by being receptive and retentive of wisdom, and are
aggressive and diligent in their search for it, God promises that He will be
found. "Then we will understand the fear of the Lord." It is not before
this, but then we will understand and have reverence and respect for Him,
which we have seen is the principle part of knowledge.
The immature and uncommitted cannot be expected to understand
what it means to fear God. This is a sign of considerable maturity, for it
can only be gained after much reception of wisdom, and diligence search
for it. This does not mean the immature cannot be reverent, but it does
mean that they do not really grasp the full significance of reverence. It
could well be that reverence for God is a key factor in determining the
maturity of a believer. As irreverence is certainly a sign of immaturity, so
the opposite is also true. A goal for our lives then in all the diligence
search for wisdom is not that we might be proud of our attainment, but
that we might be more humbly reverent before God. This goal is that of
being Christ like.
If Jesus is the truth, and we believe it, and if in Him are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge and we believe that, then the whole
Christian life is a process of education whereby we grow in our knowledge
of the truth and our practice of wisdom. Someone wrote, "The educated
man is one who knows that he is not, and never can be, educated in any
final sense, but who has an unquenchable thirst to continue his education."
The second result to come from fulfilling the conditions will be a
finding of the knowledge of God. We can literally discover deity in our
search for hidden treasure. Discovery of gold cannot compare with this
fact, that men can discover God, or more accurately, the knowledge of
God. So many people insist on an entirely different approach to finding
God. They want to get an understanding of God and then decide if they
want to believe or not. God says that He reveals himself only to those who
already believe. Only the believer can really gain an understanding of the
fear of God and find the knowledge of God. Anselm of Canterbury in the
11th century said what has always been true, and always will be: "..I do
not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to
understand. For this too I believe, that unless I believe, I shall not
understand." They only find the knowledge of God who have put God in
first place in their lives. When God is first place only, then you are being
truly educated.
