It is as if God plays hide and seek with the unbeliever so that he cannot find what truly satisfies the soul. This is not because the Lord hides wisdom from those who genuinely want it, but he will not give such a precious reward to those who insist in looking in the wrong place. The truth is that they do not really want wisdom at all for wisdom is holy and pure and heavenly, and their hearts are still wedded to earth and to sin. Wisdom cannot be found by those who do not fear God and tremble at his word. The places that they are prepared to look show what is really on their minds. But the equation – rubies or quartz, or coral, or gold, or onyx or sapphire equals wisdom or happiness or fulfilment – is a false one. Rather, all these things must be forsaken, and the love of them, if anyone is going to find wisdom. While our hearts are fixed on what is passing away, we love death more than life. How can a man be wise who judges that a sparkling jewel dug up from the earth is worth more than his own soul? Since this is the starting point of the unbeliever, he shuts wisdom out at the door. We must value wisdom before we can find it, for God does not set pearls before those who do not set any value on them. He will not have his greatest gifts to be so undervalues and abused.
How can we begin to value what we do not currently value? Again, Scripture says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We must realise that we possess nothing of real value; we must see ourselves as lost sinners with tremendous needs; we must pray to God for light and understanding; we must be willing to lose all that we think that we have and see that it is really nothing. For the Christian, choices present themselves every day, and there must be a consistent choosing of things above and not things on the earth, for wisdom cannot be found even in the most remote places on earth, and the deep does not hold them.