Treasure - Fort Knox and Our Heart

Fort Knox is so securely guarded that it is known as one of the most impregnable places on earth. Nothing was spared to make it secure. The vault is build with concrete walls and protected by a door that weights 24.6 tons ! - 16,000 cubic feet of granite, 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, 750 tons of reinforced steel, and 670 tons of structural steel went into the building of it.
Proverbs 4:23 admonishes us to guard our hearts with that same kind of diligence.
Can taking a closer look at Fort Knox teach us about our heart? I found that it indeed can !

Fort Knox is not guarded because of the vault itself. If the vault was full only of itself, there would be no need to protect it from thieves.So also our heart… if it is full of itself, we have nothing of value to guard – in fact , Proverbs 28:26 says “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool”.
So just as Fort Knox is guarded because of what it contains… so also our heart needs to be guarded because of what it holds.
We all know that the treasure Fort Knox guards is the largest cache of gold anywhere in the world, worth more than 6 billion dollars. But what is the treasure worth guarding so diligently in our hearts? If you read Prov. 4:23 in context, the treasure we are to guard with all diligence is the word of God. King David recognizing the value of God’s word, said, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee!”
While Fort Knox contains worldly treasure, our heart, according to Prov. 4:23, contains the very issues of life. Matt. 12:35 says, “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”
If someone found a way to break into Fort Knox and substitute the gold for fool’s gold… the guards would be relieved of their duty and the massive door simply left open.
So also someone who fills his heart with anything other than the truth of God , will have nothing to show but fool’s gold. Prov. 12:23 says, “the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.” But the one who fills his heart with God’s truth will have wisdom teach his mouth .(Prov. 16:23)

No gold is ever removed from Fort Knox… except for a tiny amount needed to test for purity during an audit.
I love the verse in Prov. 23:23 where it says, “Buy the truth and sell it not!”
Every time we discover a nugget of God’s truth we need to buy it , hide it in our heart, and refuse to sell it !
As the bible prophesied would happen, knowledge is increasing at an incredible rate. Here is an interesting quote by sociologist Robert Bellah.
"I have heard it said that the world's knowledge doubles every two years, and I am not prepared to doubt it, though I don't know how that is quantified. But of this I am sure: the world's meaning is not doubling every two years. Indeed we might be tempted to argue that the more information, the less meaning."
How true !! To accept anything contrary to the truth of God means that we take one of our ‘gold’ nuggets and sell it for ‘fool’s gold’. Does God speak outside of the pages of the Bible? Yes, of course, but if we hear God’s voice in our heart or through another person or through the written page, we must test it for purity against the proven ‘gold’ of God’s written word.
Prov. 30:5 says, “Every word of God is pure.”

There are absolutely no visitors permitted into Fort Knox, and no exceptions are ever made.
So also your heart is your own privately held domain and no other person can ever gain access. Only you determine what you will store there as your treasure.
Even Jesus must have your permission to enter in. In Rev. 3:20 Jesus is outside the heart, knocking. He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock - if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in….”

Until recently the value of the US currency was based on the gold standard, a monetary system in which the value of all currency is based on a weight of gold. The value is ideally fixed and is not subject to change. Any currency could be redeemed for actual gold in the US until 1971 and after 1976 the US government no longer set the gold value of a dollar.
The US now uses fiat money – it’s value is not related to anything.
Until recently , the bible was recognized as the gold standard of truth. Governments, laws of the land, schools , moral and ethical standards were all based on the value of God’s truth , which is truly ‘ideally fixed and not subject to change.”
But today there is a very strong shift away from God’s truth as revealed in scripture and a much broader base of acceptable belief has been substituted. More and more people are accepting truth based on no standard at all - except the personal preference of each person.
History really does repeat itself for there was a time when Israel did not have a king and every man set his own standard of right and wrong. (Judges 21:25)
It is interesting to note that every fiat system throughout history has collapsed in value.
In Isaiah 40:8 it tells us that God’s word will stand forever ! He will have the last laugh when the wisdom of this world collapses !

Even though the gold in Fort Knox is no longer used as a standard for currency value, it is still considered a valuable holding because it is an internationally recognized commodity that cannot be legislated or manipulated by interested countries!
So also God’s word cannot be legislated nor manipulated .. much as man may try.
Jesus says God’s word is unchangable as He declares in Matt. 5:18 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law…”

In an ever changing and increasingly evil world, where there is little left that can be trusted , we can still find security if we diligently guard the treasure of God’s truth in our heart.
A treasure that causes us to proclaim with King David,

“My heart standeth in awe of Thy Word !!” (Ps. 119:161)