1. Treasuring Truth (Acts 8:26-28)

The Ethiopian eunuch took a long trip to Jerusalem to worship. This was not a quick trip but was estimated to take 50-75 days! The redemption of the soul is not a quick or painless pursuit. Yet Jesus promised: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6, NKJV).

2. Treasuring Humility (Acts 8:29-33)

Although the eunuch was a man of great authority, he valued understanding the Scriptures correctly. He admitted there were things he could not understand and wanted help in understanding them. Rather than seeing guidance as beneath him, he welcomed it. David wrote, “The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way” (Psa. 25:9).

3. Treasuring Answers (Acts 8:34-35)

The eunuch was confused over who Isaiah had in mind when writing about the suffering Messiah. This text should have been central to many discussions in the first century when people inquired about the Messiah. Beginning with this Scripture, Philip preached Jesus to Him. When confusion exists, preaching Jesus brings clarity—Jesus is the answer! Do we treasure God’s answers today as the eunuch did (Prov. 2:1-5)?

4. Treasuring Salvation (Acts 8:36-38).

After hearing the explanation, the eunuch did not wait for a later opportunity but quickly surrendered himself to Christ in baptism. Why is it that after many claim to preach Jesus today, sinners are not asking, “Here is water, what hinders me from being baptized?” Is it the lack of water or the lack of preaching Jesus? Baptism is the proper response to the preaching of Jesus (Acts 2:38; Mk. 16:16).

5. Treasuring Obedience (Acts 8:39)

After baptism, the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.” True joy comes from knowing one is saved and in fellowship with God. Where is your journey leading you?

“The heart of the righteous studies how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil” (Prov. 15:28).

God created mankind with the ability to exercise the mind by forming thoughts and ideas. Humans alone can express and communicate these thoughts in discernible words. Yet, with any great ability comes great responsibility. The sacred writers emphasize the need for thoughtful speech.

The heart of the righteous studies how to answer. There is always the danger in speech of saying something injurious. There is the danger of communicating a message that is corrupt and contemptible. There is the possibility of speaking in a way that betrays what is true and promotes what is false. Therefore, the heart—or mind—of a righteous person will deliberate, meditate, and formulate a proper response.

“The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips” (Prov. 16:23).

Earlier, the inspired sage observed in Proverbs 15:2, “The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.” This implies that knowledge can be used wrongly. How so?

• To deceive – Twisting facts or the Scriptures to manipulate others.
• To boast – Some may use knowledge as a vehicle for pride. Knowledge can puff up (1 Cor. 8:1), but love tempers it to edify.
• To harm – Using knowledge as a weapon to belittle, control, or slander a weakness in another. Simply because we know something doesn’t mean we should repeat it. Proverbs 12:18 says, “There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health.” Do I use words as a butcher or a surgeon—to destroy or to help?
• To justify sin – One can use knowledge to rationalize sin and excuse wrongdoing. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil…” (Isa. 5:20).
• To argue over foolish disputes – “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife” (2 Tim. 2:23). Certainly, not all disputes are foolish, but all ignorant disputes without a productive purpose are.

The inspired apostle charges in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

Jesus also warned in Matthew 12:36, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”

Thoughtful speech is in contrast to rash talk. Rash lips proved dangerous enough to keep Moses out of the Promised Land (Psalm 106:32-33). Rash and foolish speech will also keep us from reaching our goal of being with Jesus in eternity.

“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (Jas. 1:19).

THOUGHT – An invisible force of the mind that shapes our views, our words, our actions, and even our destinations. Every act of evil or kindness begins with a thought. Every destructive deed, every invention, and every masterpiece of art starts as a thought. Libraries are vast storehouses of recorded thoughts. The news delivers thoughts in the form of information. From the moment we wake up to the time we sleep, we are constantly thinking.

In all our thinking, let’s remember:

• God’s thoughts are not ours. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
• God declares His thoughts to us. “For behold, He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, who treads the high places of the earth—The LORD God of hosts is His name.” (Amos 6:13)
• God’s thoughts toward us are many. “Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” (Psalm 40:5) David stood in awe, asking, “LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?” (Psalm 144:3). The word mindful (Piel stem) expresses an intense and ongoing concern—God is not just aware of us; He continually thinks upon us with care and purpose.

With these thoughts in mind, ask yourself:

• Since God’s thoughts are so much greater than mine, do I take an interest in them? Do I trust His wisdom over my own?
• Since God declares His thoughts, am I listening? Do His thoughts shape my daily life?
• Since God has countless thoughts toward me, do I value them enough to seek them out? Am I concerned about what His thoughts are toward me?

But how can we know the thoughts of God? Paul answers:

"For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual." (1 Corinthians 2:11-13)

If we truly desire to know God's thoughts, we must go to where He has revealed them—the Scriptures. The Bible is not just a book of history or moral instruction; it is the mind of God made known to man. "The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever." (Psalm 119:160)

Are you searching His Word to know His thoughts?

Proverbs 2:6:
"For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding." (NKJV)

This verse stresses that true intellect—wisdom, knowledge, and understanding—comes from God. Human reasoning is most reliable when it is grounded in divine truth rather than self-reliance (Prov. 3:5-6).

Our God possesses infinite intellect; He not only knows all things but also searches every heart (1 Chron. 28:9). Scripture reveals that He tests the hearts of men (1 Chron. 29:17), for nothing is hidden from His sight (Prov. 15:11). On earth, only mankind is capable of possessing true intellect, being made in the image of God.

Unlike humans, animals are unreasoning creatures. They do not discern between good and evil, truth and error, or make morally upright choices. As a judgment upon Nebuchadnezzar, God temporarily stripped him of human reasoning and gave him the mind of an animal: “Let his heart be changed from that of a man, let him be given the heart of a beast…” (Dan. 4:16). This punishment drove him away from society, forcing him to live in the wild. His hair grew like an eagle’s feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws (Dan. 4:33). This discipline taught him—and all people—that God rules over the kingdoms of men.

At the appointed time, Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes to heaven and declared, “My understanding returned to me.” A heart without understanding is beastlike. Sin can warp our thinking to the point where we become like unreasoning animals. Peter warned, “But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption” (2 Pet. 2:12).

The gospel restores our minds. Within it, we discover the transformative power of having the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5ff).

So, what is your mind filled with? Do you have a debased mind filled with wickedness (Rom. 1:28-29)? A puffed-up fleshly mind (Col. 2:18)?

If God judged men today as He did Nebuchadnezzar, would you stand with an upright heart, or would you be driven away, your understanding lost, and your nails growing like birds’ claws?

"With the heart one believes…" (Rom. 10:10). Let God inscribe His law upon your heart and begin developing the mind of Christ through His Word!

Proverbs 3:11, 12 emphasizes God’s correction as an extension of love as a father would his own son.

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights. (NKJV)

Correction is not isolated to instructive rebuke; it may also include punishment. Discipline, even chastening, should not be interpreted as a sign of rejection but of love and favor. The thought in Proverbs 3:11 echoes Job 5:17. Rather than loathing God's discipline, we should recognize it as a means of drawing us closer to Him.

The answer to Proverbs 3:11 is found in Proverbs 3:12. The New Testament applies this passage to suffering Christians who strive to walk by faith in a world of trouble in Hebrews 12:5, 6. This fits the context of Proverbs 3:11 and 12 perfectly. Just as we are not to forget God in prosperity—when our barns are filled with plenty (Prov. 3:9, 10)—we are not to become alienated from Him in hard times.

Do we welcome divine correction? The Scriptures teach:

"For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life." (Proverbs 6:23)