Mining for God’s Treasures

‘Wave your hands in front of your face. You may think you see something, but that is just your mind playing a trick on you.’ Our guide through an abandoned slate mine in north Wales had just turned off all the lights, and it was totally dark and quiet. Without light, mine workers and others stuck in mines could get lost and experience vivid hallucinations. He also explained the difficult work of slate mining as well as its significant dangers: explosives, rock falls, getting trapped, falling from great heights while testing rock stability, chronic health conditions….

This reminds me of the magnificent passage in Job 28 comparing mining to our search for wisdom. Human skill and diligence are used to bring light to dark places never before explored by man or beast in order to mine and refine metals and gems. And yet there is nothing that can be found in the earth that compares to the value of wisdom; not even the finest gold or jewels can buy it. I then expected the poet to echo the words of Proverbs 2:3-5: ‘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.’ However, the point of Job 28 is that we will not discover wisdom through our own skill, diligence, and ingenuity; even the deepest depths will tell us, ‘It’s not with me.’ Instead, God understands the way to wisdom and he alone knows where it dwells.

Seven weeks ago on Sunday 26 February we believe that God revealed the magnificent treasure he wants for us: a new heart and a new Spirit so that we love others with the love he gives to us. For me, these weeks have been both terrifying and exhilarating in a way that feels like mining. Like miners exploring new areas, we’re trying new ways to be open to God on Sundays and new ways of listening with and relating to one another. I admit that I often fear we’re going to dig (risk) in a new area and come up with nothing, or fear we didn’t dig enough and quit too early when even more treasure was only centimeters away. There are moments when I fear that we’ve mined all the treasure God meant for us and if we keep digging the whole thing will collapse and bury us. And like a mine without light, there are dark times when the enemy tries to convince me that we’ve imagined the whole thing. And yet we continue to find treasure and believe we’ve barely scratched the surface of all he wants for us. We must listen to both Proverbs and Job: we do all we can to seek out the treasures he has for us and also recognise that our own skill, diligence, and ingenuity won’t achieve this. We must trust in our good Father who loves us and knows the way to the treasure he means for us to receive. 

We invite you to mine God’s treasures with us! Where is he calling us to risk? We need the light you bring and want to know what you see and discover - please don’t keep anything to yourself!

Final thought: our guide said that miners used to sing loudly to test the stability of the areas where they were working. If the sound was too dull, they would anchor themselves way up high to test the areas where they were mining for possible rock falls. How can worship be like this for us?