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Now on to today’s post…
Have you seen the reality show, “Gold Rush Alaska“?
It follows the adventures of a group of men and their families who risk everything to mine for gold in Alaska. A couple of them have a little experience, but for the most part–they’re learning as they go, which turns out to be a very expensive way to learn.
The process for finding gold is very time-consuming and requires various types of equipment. And a lot of money! These families literally risked everything they had to find gold.
One of the most interesting aspects of the mining process was the by-product that came out of the washboard, a piece of equipment that separated pieces of gold from the dirt. What was left after this stage of the process was black sand. Buckets and buckets and buckets of black sand.
The black sand is where most of the gold is found. Not nuggets of gold–those are found earlier in the process, but little flakes and specks of gold. They don’t look like much at first, but when all those tiny little bits of gold are put together–you have quite a treasure.
Getting the gold separated from the black sand proved to be tough. It wasn’t until a special piece of equipment arrived that they even knew how much gold they were finding. Once that machine was up and running, the miners were able to see their hard work pay off.
I still haven’t watched the last episode of the season, so I have no idea if their risk paid off. Although I did see they’re coming back for a second season, so they must have found enough to keep going!
Hearing God speak to us from His word seems to me to be very similar to mining for gold.
If you only spend a little bit of time in His word–maybe just when you listen to a sermon on Sunday morning–then you will come across a nugget or two every once in awhile. Maybe even be enough to keep you going for a week or so.
But just as in gold mining, the best stuff takes time to get to. It takes digging and sifting and perseverance and patience. For those who do it–the pay off is incalculable.
Psalm 19:9-11 says:
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever.
The ordinances of the LORD are sure
and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.
By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
I love it when I come across a passage of scripture that I haven’t mined before. Maybe it’s a passage that I previously only glanced at to see if any nuggets were lying close to the surface, but never took the time to dig deep. Today, I’ve just begun the process of mining Deuteronomy 4.
On Gold Rush Alaska, the spot that contains a lot of gold is called the “Glory Hole.” I think Deuteronomy 4 is definitely a Glory Hole. I’ll be mining in it for days. Here are the first 14 verses:
1 Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.
3 You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did at Baal Peor. The LORD your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who held fast to the LORD your God are still alive today.
5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.” 11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. 12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 And the LORD directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
I’ll share some of my observations over the next few days, but I’d love to hear about some of the gold you mine from this passage. What is God saying to you?
For those of you who read my post from yesterday, I incorrectly identified Miriam as the wife of Moses. In fact, she was his sister. Thank you to my wife for catching my mistake!