Our little granddaughter is just past two years old and she loves gum. When we want to mention the subject without arousing her interest we spell G-U-M but now she also knows that G-U-M spells gum so she asks for it by saying and spelling it. There is a story about a little girl standing waiting for a bus with two rather critical ladies. The one lady turns to the other and says, ”my, isn’t she U-G-L-Y.” The little girl, hearing the conversation replies, ”Yes, but she’s also S-M-A-R-T.”

As adults, we often spell a word instead of saying it so that a child may not understand what we are saying. The child in turn, enjoys learning to spell in order to learn the meaning of what we are saying. This reminds us of Solomon’s wise observation when he said, ”It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.”

The things God has hidden are sweeter by far than any C-A-N-D-Y we could offer a child. David expressed it beautifully when he said ”How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” We as God’s children should be as intent on extracting the sweet things God has concealed in His word as a child is in securing a piece of candy or gum from us.

How often do we lovingly hold the Bible in our hands and think, this book holds the revealed word of Almighty God! This book contains the mind of God. This book spells the difference for us between eternal life or eternal death. This book is God’s love letter to us. Without this book we probably would not know that Jesus died. We certainly would not know why he died, and that he is not dead but alive for evermore, and that he ”holds the keys of hell and of death.”

Ever think of how many hours a year are spent on cross word puzzles, jig saw puzzles and the like? Here again, people receive joy in searching out a matter, but when we have done it what do we have? A pretty picture perhaps made up of a lot of little pieces or a puzzle with all the boxes filled in correctly. Just imagine how much good could be accomplished if this same amount of time was spent in searching out the treasures hidden within the pages of our Bible.

People love a challenge. That’s why they take a perfectly good picture and chop it up into a bunch of little pieces and mix them all up and put them in a box. People love to find the right pieces and put it all back together again. Why is it that so few have time to search out the gems hidden within the pages of God’s book? It isn’t that they don’t have time; they have time for the worldly puzzles, but not for God’s.

We who know better should make sure that we spend our time searching out the worthwhile treasures of life. These are found in our Bibles. If we fail to read and study God’s love letter it is telling us something. It really means that we don’t love God. There is no use saying, ”Oh the Truth is the most wonderful thing in the world” if we are not busy reading and searching for the jewels that God has hidden within the pages o’ His book. If we want to be kings and priests and reign with Jesus when He comes, then we had better be searching out the treasures that God has hidden for us to find. When God spells something instead of saying it plainly, let’s learn to spell so that we can search out what He has concealed. It is His glory to conceal it and our honor to search it out. When our granddaughter finds a piece of gum we had hidden in our pocket, she is pleased and we are pleased. When we discover a gem that God has hidden for us to find, then too there is great joy everywhere.