… and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure – Proverbs 2:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 21, 2019): Proverbs 2

Forrest Fenn says that he buried about two million dollars’ worth of gold and jewels in the Rocky Mountains for someone to find, setting off a grand treasure hunt. The claim came after Fenn had received a diagnosis of terminal cancer, and his desire is that, once the treasure has been found, that the site of the recovered treasure would also be his final resting place. And so the search is on. Some have claimed to have found the treasure, but those claims remain unconfirmed.

Searching for Treasure in the Rocky Mountains is neither an easy nor a safe task to be pursued. At least four people have died in the pursuit of the Fenn treasure. The body of Randy Bilyeu was found along the Rio Grande in July 2016, six months after he disappeared. Jeff Murphy’s body was found in Yellowstone National Park in June 2017. Jeff had fallen 500 feet down a steep slope. Pastor Paris Wallace was also found dead along the Rio Grande in June 2017 after telling family members that he was going to search for the treasure. Eric Ashby moved to Colorado for the express purpose of searching for the cache, and his body was found in July 2017 in Colorado’s Arkansas River. Authorities have asked Fenn to call off the search, but that also has not been done. And some openly question whether the treasure actually exists, arguing that the Fenn treasure should be referred to as the Fenn hoax.

But the Fenn treasure is not the only treasure that is still out there somewhere. And we are willing to risk our lives to find any treasure. With that in mind, Solomon asks his readers to consider a second question. We know that we are willing to risk our lives in the pursuit of treasure, but what are we willing to sacrifice in the pursuit of wisdom. While we are often willing to hang off of cliffs to look for hidden treasure, are we willing to even read a book to discover the wisdom that is necessary for living life? Maybe we would find ourselves in a much better space if we were willing to risk as much in our pursuit of wisdom as we are willing to spend in our search of treasure.

Somehow, we need to reprioritize what is important. And the reality is that treasure without wisdom will not get us as far as we might think. Fortunes have been found and lost, frequently because the possession of wealth did not give us the wisdom of what it was that we should do with our treasure. Solomon wanted his son to be rich. And he would be. Solomon would pass down wealth to him. But he also knew that the money his son would one day inherit would let him down if he did not possess wisdom for life.

Money and treasure are just tools. Without wisdom, the tool is often lost and disappears from our lives. Wisdom allows us to use that tool, and others, to have the most significant positive effect on our lives. But Solomon is also right that while we are willing to chase after treasure, we are seldom willing to put the same effort into our pursuit of wisdom. And, somehow, that needs to change.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 3