DIGGING FOR TREASURES

Text: Psalm 119:72

Introduction

This evening the title of my message is "Digging for Treasures", and our text is found in Psalms 119:72 which reads:

Psalm 119:72 Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver. (NLT)

Psalm 119:140 Your word to me, your servant,  is like pure gold; I treasure what you say. (CEV)

What is the world's greatest treasure? Some people might say it's all the gold stored in Fort Knox. Others might suggest it's the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Still others would think of the fabulous wealth once displayed in the czarist palaces of Russia. The answer that I hope would come to your mind is the Bible, God's Word.

At the coronation of England's Queen Elizabeth II, the Archbishop of Canterbury presented her with a Bible and said, "Our gracious Queen: To keep your Majesty ever mindful of the Law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes, we present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords."

If the world were somehow robbed of all the splendid things we call treasures, that would be an incalculable loss. Suppose, though, the world were somehow stripped of the Bible and every trace of its influence. What a barren, blighted desert this planet would be!

One of the most interesting times in our state's history, was a period of the time in the 1800's called the "gold rush days".

During this period of time, men called prospectors would go out into the hills and mountains to find gold and silver. Many times they sold everything they owned in order to buy the equipment they needed in order to prospect.

Prospecting was very hard work and took many hours every day, and sometimes many years to find gold.

This evening I would like to compare the study of God's word to prospecting for gold.