God's Love, Pure Gold
"And the gold of that land is good" (Genesis 2:12).
Read: Gen. 2:8-14; I Peter 1:18.
What Is God Saying?
Across the centuries gold has been coveted by men with a great passion. The possess10n of it has been the source of pride and uneasiness. The lack of it has been the cause of wars and countless crimes of violence. Those who have it are often filled with pride. Those who do not have it are often filled with jealousy and hate. It is a precious metal and it is scarce. It can be hoarded and it can be stolen. It gleams in the pan of the prospector as he works from the river bed from dawn to dusk. It has caused men to leave home and family and to endure untold hardships of harsh weather and unfriendly terrain. It has destroyed the characters of those who lust for it, making them creatures that grub in the ground for it or sell their very souls to possess it. Anything for gold.
The best medal to win in a competition is gold. The cry that urges Olympic contestants to excel and to press on beyond normal endurance and strength is ‘Go for the Gold!’ The shining symbol of the most precious bond of love in life, marriage, is a ring made of gold. Fifty years of such a relationship is universally known as the Golden Anniversary.
When God conveys to us the great price of our redemption, He compares the precious blood of Christ, that which is incomprehensibly costly, with gold, which, for all its value is perishable. God wants us to have the gold of His bountiful love, the riches of His blessing, and the gold that He gives is good, not mixed and cheapened as a compromising alloy. Pure gold and in endless supply. Such is the love of God. God's gold is good.
How Does This Apply To Us?
We find this gold by living in the land of abundance that God provides—not a geographical piece of land, not a coveted vein in a limited motherlode that is hard to get and harder still to hold. The gold of God's intention for our life is endlessly available. It is inexhaustible and priceless beyond all reckoning. Let us live in the land of God's blessing and discover the gold He has for us. The gold of that land is good. Let's go for the gold.
Pray With Me
Lord, I am often mystified and pained by the origin of evil. Its meanings lie beyond my struggling and limited reason. Nevertheless, I do not doubt the origin of good, for You are the Giver of every good and perfect gift. When I live in the land You have provided, and when I walk in its paths of pure and selfless living, it is always my joy to discover that "the gold of that land is good."
Thank You, Lord, for letting me live in a land where the gold is good. Thank You for blessings that cannot be bought with gold. Thank You for mercies that are not acquired through struggle, pain, and labor. Thank You for the joy of knowing that the gold of the land of Your blessing is something I may obtain by Your grace and can never attain by my merit.
Time and again I have risen to the bait of sin's glittering gold only to find it has no value. I have been lured by that which is neither gold nor good only to find that, promising much, it yields but little. Take my heart, O Loving Father, for I will trust You to guide me and keep me in the land where the gold is good. You will direct my steps into that land, into that kingdom, into that life, where the value promised is the value received beyond all I could ask or even dare to dream.
In the name of Him who has redeemed us by that which is far more precious than gold, even the blood of an eternal covenant. Amen.
Moving On In The Life Of Prayer
Let us turn down the cheap substitutes. "The blessing of the Lord makes rich and He adds no sorrow with it." (Prov. 10:22) We should seek and find the pure gold of God's blessings on the deeper levels of prayer. Let us not be content with occasional flecks of gold in the sand of a shallow stream. There are great nuggets, ours for the taking. We can never exhaust God's riches. Never! "And the gold of that land is good."
