Maximizing Your Potential

strength to effectively accomplish what He wills. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us (2 Corinthians 4:7). This potency of God within us—our potential—is the treasure we must defend. The treasure is the God-invested vision and purpose for our lives, designed both to show His glory and to bring Him glory. The Treasure of God’s Wisdom and Knowledge The prophet Isaiah recognized God’s wisdom as a treasure, as did the psalmists and King Solomon. They also agreed that the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure: He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure (Isaiah 33:6). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding... (Psalm 111:10; see also Proverbs 1:7). 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. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:1-6). What does it mean to fear God? The psalmists liken those who fear God with those who “hope...in His unfailing love” (Psalm 33:18), who “understand [His] statutes” (Psalm 119:79), and who “walk in His ways” (Psalm 128:1). They also compare fearing God with trusting Him (see Psalm 40:3; 115:11) and advise those who would learn what it means to fear the Lord to “turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (see Psalm 34:11,14). Solomon equates fearing the Lord with shunning evil (see Proverbs 3:7; 8:13) and hating knowledge with failing to fear the Lord (see Proverbs 1:29). Thus, to fear the Lord is to trust and obey Him. In so doing we defend the deposit of His wisdom and knowledge within us. The apostle Paul speaks of God’s wisdom within us as a “secret wisdom” (1 Corinthians 2:7) because sinful man can neither know nor understand the thoughts and the heart of God toward His children. Only as we come to God through faith in Jesus Christ, “and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2), and through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts (see 1 Corinthians 2:9-16) are we privileged to understand God’s thoughts toward us. Isaiah acknowledged this difference between God’s thoughts and ours: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,”