Buried Treasure

"The fear of the LORD is his treasure." (Isa. 33:6)

Gold is no substitute for God. Isaiah writes of the righteous, "the fear of the LORD is his treasure." This fear is simply the other side of genuine faith. The early church understood what real riches were. The early church understood the economics of eternal things, and traded in the currency of consecrated stocks and bonds. Those stocks were often in prisons and the bonds in persecution, but they found God’s grace sufficient. The apostle’s purse may not have held much silver and gold, but the church was rich in God. A widow’s mite can easily balance the books, and make a ministry mighty. And any saint worth his salt, knows where the hidden treasure is. It is hid in God. (Lk. 12:21)

The fear of the LORD is his treasure. Moses must have looked the part of a fool to those who watched him throw away the treasures of Egypt, but Moses endured as seeing him who was invisible. He esteemed the riches of Christ more precious.

By all accounts, Job was wealthy as well. His wealth was not in camels nor his substance in his seven thousand sheep. His real wealth was in the vaults of eternity, he "feared God, and eschewed evil." The fear of the LORD was his treasure. No evil could rob Job of his real riches. Although every temporal thing was stripped away and he, in his mortality, was reduced to what all who watched might call "ruin," Job still had an eternal Trust Fund that remained intact. He was rich toward God. The fear of the Lord is our treasure.

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