“And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.’” Job 28:28

Hide and Seek

As a kid I climbed a huge and sprawling oak tree in the corner of my front yard. I hid out there sometimes, hidden deep up in the leaves. When we played hide and seek, that tree was always “home base.” We would wait until almost dusky dark when the fireflies were blinking around us and we would play hide and seek until it was too dark to see and our parents called us inside. We searched for each other high and low, seeking out that which was hidden.

We are often seeking things out. We mine the earth to find ore, gold, and silver. We seek our one true love. We seek money that seems to elude us. Some seek fame. Others seek power. We seek hidden treasure. We drill the deep earth for the blackness and wealth of oil. We search for where we left our glasses or our phone. We seek education or a better paying job. We seek meaning. We seek truth.

Job 28:11-12 says, “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.”

God brings forth every hidden thing to light. God Himself knows things unseen, unfound, unknown to man. God knows the way of wisdom and He knows its place. He saw wisdom and declared it. He prepared it. He searched it out.

1 Corinthians 1:24 says, “…but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”Jesus is the wisdom that was hidden, but now revealed. Jesus is the wisdom the Father is declaring.

Sometimes I have found the thing I was seeking and sometimes the thing I sought evaded me. My search often led to good and necessary things, but I also found things that disappointed or disillusioned me. Sometimes I was searching for all the wrong things, wasting my time and coming up empty. One thing I know, when God revealed the wonder of Christ in me, the hope of glory, I found that good part that would not be taken from me. All else pales in comparison.

Or was it God who sought me all along?

This I know as I live out my years, again and again the wisdom and truth of His Word guides me, keeps me, causes me to depart from the evil that would damage and destroy me. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Jesus is no longer hidden. Love is revealed. Walk in wisdom!

“Father, You sought me when I was lost. You paid the price for the treasure hidden in the dirt of sin and foolishness. In Your finding me, I found You. All the things I was seeking led to futility, but You granted meaning and purpose and life. May I ever walk in the fear of the Lord, for this is wisdom. Amen.”