The Divine Treasure Hunt—Part 1- Steve Orr

The Search for Treasure:

Everyone loves a good treasure hunt story; it’s the spellbinding theme of many great books and movies.

Here is a small sampling of familiar titles:

· Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson;

· King Solomon’s Mines, two movies based on the book by H. Rider Haggard. Originally released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor in 1950 and re-released by Cannon Films in 1985;

· Raiders of the Lost Ark, a film by Steven Spielberg, based on a story by George Lucas.

· The Deep, a movie based on Peter Benchley’s novel;

· The Gold Bug by Edgar Allan Poe;

· The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain;

· The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien;

Because my wife is hooked on “The Curse of Oak Island” series, I’ve watched all 11 seasons. The series even speculates that the Ark of the Covenant could be there, encouraging viewers to keep watching.

Could it be that the Ark of the Covenant is a figurative representation of the greatest treasure of all? With this introduction, I invite you on a continued quest for this greatest of treasures.

Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is like a great treasure hidden in a field. The treasure is so great that the only reasonable response is to trade in everything you have to attain it.

From the beginning of creation, we see that the earth contains great treasures just waiting to be found.

“A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there, it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.” (Genesis 2:10-11).

It is said that more money has been spent on looking for gold than the value of all the gold that has been found. Maybe God likes hiding treasure just to give us the fun of looking for it.

“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel; take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness.” (Proverbs 25:2,4-5 ESV)

Not only has God hidden many things, he is hidden to many. Consider Jesus’ answer to why he told stories:

“The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories? He replied, ‘You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward a welcome awakening.’” (Matthew 13:10-15 MSG paraphrased)

Because the treasure is great, Jesus tells us to ask, seek, knock, and persist in our search. I have panned for gold, dug for diamonds, and scuba-dived on a sunken ship. If you have performed any of these activities, you know what I mean about the need for persistence. Searching for treasure is hard work, and part of this hard work is figuring out how and where to look. Here’s a clue…

Have you ever looked for something lost in your house for a long time? Where do you find the lost item? It’s always in the last place you looked. The lesson for us is this: once you find something, stick with it and keep digging because there’s more treasure waiting to be found.

Stay tuned for Part 2; significant clues will come into the light in our hunt for the treasure as we dig deeper.

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Steve Orr writes to us from Montana. After working in the mecca of technology, Steve traded the rat race of Silicon Valley for the adventures of High Tech in Big Sky Country. Steve has an MBA with experience in accounting, finance, technology, and management. He occasionally writes a little software code, but mostly he likes writing about Matters of the Heart.

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