AP

Proverbs 2:1-5   My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

The ‘Ides of March’ (15th) had particular pagan ‘religious’ significance in the old Roman calendar, but it has become more widely known in modern times (thanks mainly to William Shakespeare) because it was the day in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was assassinated by his ‘friends’, Brutus and Cassius (“Et tu Brute?” – ‘Julius Caesar’, Act 3, Scene 1).

According to Plutarch, a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar on the Ides of March. On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, “Well, the Ides of March are come”, implying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied “Aye, they are come, but they are not gone.”  ‘Beware, the Ides of March’!

How important it is that we heed the warning of the ‘seer’, Solomon, in Proverbs.  Today’s proverb points us to Jesus’ Parables of the ‘Hidden Treasure’ and the ‘Pearl of Great Value’ (Matthew 13:44-46: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.  When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”).

Do I earnestly and urgently ‘seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness’ instead of allowing myself to become anxious about the material needs of tomorrow (Matthew 6:33)?  Do I really long to ‘understand the fear of the Lord’, and ‘find the knowledge of God’ deep in my heart in a way that truly impacts my whol life?  If I do, then Solomon is telling me, in effect, that I must make sure that there is adequate space in my busy schedule for reading, meditating on, and applying God’s Word, as I seek his face in prayer each day.
– Bruce Christian