One of the many reasons the Word of God is my favorite book to read, study, pray, preach and meditate on is because it always raises the bar and invites you to come up higher. The Word of God will not dumb something down so you can get can get a participation trophy, it will maintain the level and strengthen you, train you and equip you to reach the standard it has set. The reason this is because nothing short of you expereincing abundant life, freedom and power is the goal of the Word of God for everyone of us.

Reading Proverbs 3 this morning revealed a standard God will not lower for anyone, but so few people pursue God’s standard because they love the world’s standard. Here is what Solomon, the richest man to ever live said, “How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver And her gain better than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her.”

The world’s standard is called the gold standard and with a shaky financial system, people are clinging to and buying gold and silver, hoping to escape a financial collapse. But Solomon says, we are not blessed if we have silver and gold, we are blessed if we have wisdom and understanding. He goes on to say they are more precious than jewels. What? Selah. Here we are working our tails off for silver and gold, but who is pursuing wisdom and understanding? Silver and gold may buy you stuff, but wisdom and understanding will set you free, will make you a distributor of truth to others and will infuse you with a peace that passes all understanding.

The choice is yours as to what you pursue, but I can tell you this one thing, the Word of God is not lowering the standard to silver and gold when it comes to who is blessed. The blessed have wisdom and understanding and if you have those two things, silver and gold will follow you, so you don’t need to pursue them for they are pursuing you. This is what freedom feels like.