A shiny silver disc turned the floor at Target into a treasure box the other day when my daughter found a quarter. She was thrilled to add to her savings, excited by unexpected bounty. I’ll admit I can overlook the value of coins. I drop them into a jar at the end of the day, or they get lost in the bottom of my purse, and I rarely bother to dig them out. They pile up, but they are essentially useless.
As I herded my little flock back to the car that day, I was reminded of another mother’s family outing in which a treasure was found. The “of Nazareths” had been on a road trip with friends and extended family. As they headed for home, the adults chatted and laughed while the children scampered ahead. It wasn’t until they stopped for the evening that Mary noticed her oldest son wasn’t with them. Mary and Joseph retraced their steps all the way back to Jerusalem, where they spent several days searching for Jesus. They finally found him in the Temple, a twelve year old boy in deep conversation with the religious teachers (Luke 2:41-52).
I love Mary’s reaction: Where have you been? What do you think you’re doing? Your father and I have been looking all over for you! I can relate as a parent – the panic at the thought a child is missing. The anxious searching. The relief and fear expressed in her outburst.
Jesus’ answer – You should have known I’d be in my Father’s house – didn’t really answer her questions. But He demonstrated His love for them by going home and being obedient to them. And Mary “stored all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51). The NIV translates this “treasured all these things in her heart.” In the midst of the mess, Mary found the treasure.
In the midst of our own chaotic lives, we still can find shiny coins scattered in the dust. Golden moments when we know with confidence that God is good, that He is with us, that He loves us. Tokens, evidence, that our faith is based on something real and lasting. We pick these treasures up, sometimes more out of habit than intention, and tuck them away.
The coins in my coin jar have lost their value because I don’t spend them. But if I had need, you can bet I would pour them out and put them to use. A day will come when you will need every coin in your jar to get you through whatever you face. In the day of evil, we spend the currency of faith. We pull out every God-token, remembering His goodness and faithfulness in other situations so we can be confident of His goodness in this situation.
Troubles are opportunities for God to prove His love for us over and over again. As we invest faith, we find new God-tokens to fill our jars, so the supply is always more than enough for the need.
Jeremiah was a prophet in Judah during the days leading up to her defeat by Babylon. Eventually the king imprisoned him in the palace because his prophesies weren’t good for morale. While he was locked up and the Babylonian army was besieging Jerusalem, Jeremiah’s cousin offered to sell him a field, to invest in some property, even though it wasn’t likely the invaders would honor land contracts.
And yet Jeremiah bought the field. Jeremiah pulled out his coin jar of faith. He put a down payment on hope. What he could see were the walls of his prison and the enemy at the gates. But his actions declared he believed in the goodness of God, that God would restore Israel as He had promised.
After Jeremiah completed the transaction, he prayed. And his prayer sounds to me like a man who is saying, I don’t know why you want me to do this. I don’t know what good this will do. I don’t see any way this can work out. But I do know you. Nothing is too hard for you. Great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. I trust you. (Jeremiah 32:17-25)
God gave Jeremiah the opportunity to prove his faith. To give value to what he’d stockpiled. To show that it was worth more than the silver that he paid for the field. Like Mary, we can store up treasures of faith in a purse that won’t wear out. Like Jeremiah, we can spend that currency of faith on hope.
God responded to Jeremiah’s searching prayer with a promise: “I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God… I will never stop doing good to them” (Jeremiah 32:37-40).