There are men like John D Rockefeller and Bill Gates and Elon Musk and others who have become very wealthy. All they had or have is their money. John D is dead. His foundation lives on but he is dead. From all that I read about him, he died a lost man. He gave large sums of money to different religious ventures, but he never knew the true God. He wanted to be seen as a good man even though he made much of his money in very unjust ways.
God says that His Word is more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Whether a person invests in gold or silver or whatever, it is all earthly treasure that can be removed very quickly. We have much less control over earthly things than we sometimes realize. That which we lay up in heaven is eternal and cannot be taken away. It is not subject to inflation. It will never be devalued. We have talked of the perversions many times. They seek to devalue God’s Word, but the reality is that they cannot succeed in that. They are able to deceive many people who want to be deceived. However, those who are saved and led by the Holy Spirit will be led further and further into the truth.
God’s Word is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Honey has many good qualities about it. The bees work hard day in and day out to gather the pollen that they then turn into honey. It is amazing to consider God’s design in the flowers and in the bees as they work together to give us such a wonderful thing as honey and the honeycomb. However, these things are not of greater value than the Word of God. We are reminded again that the knowledge of the Creator is of greater importance than the knowledge of the created. The created is designed by God to point us to Him.
In verse 11 we are reminded further of the blessing of God’s Word. There are many warnings in God’s Word. There are many products we can purchase that have warnings associated with them. Some of the warnings are there because some people lack the ability to think and they do foolish things. The company will put a warning label on its product to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits.
God’s Word warns us of the many dangers in life. Adam was warned not to eat the fruit of one particular tree. He did not need that fruit. It was there to remind Adam to follow God’s way. Adam disregarded the warning and ate of that fruit and he became a sinner immediately. He did not need to wait to see what might happen down the road. He was immediately separated from God by his sin. He died spiritually in an instant and he began to die physically from that point on. He now had a fear of God that was not healthy. He now despised God and his wife.
We can look at that warning and we can learn of the importance of knowing the true God and of obeying Him. God tells us that when we keep His Word, there is great reward. God is not teaching works salvation here. We all know that no-one keeps God’s Word perfectly. The Hebrew word translated as “keeping” means “to guard, to observe, to give heed”.
The Bible tells us that there is only one way of salvation and that is through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible warns of the many who have gone before and ignored this important truth. All of them have perished. The Bible also warns us of the dangers of carelessness in our walk with Him. God also shows us many examples of individuals who were blessed in keeping His Word. They knew that when they sinned after salvation, they could be and would be forgiven and they would be restored to a right fellowship with the Lord. They benefited greatly from believing and following God’s way. The same is true for us today. Let us choose to know the true God and then pay attention to His Word.
Pastor Bartel