Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | When I was growing up, a friend of ours had a dog she named “Precious.”  My dad would almost get ill when he heard her call the dog by that name. She was a rather homely little animal—and besides, he reasoned, “Precious” is much too sentimental, gushy and syrupy a name for any dog.

That prompted me to look up the word “precious” in my Bible concordance program to see how the word is used in scripture. It is used, of course, of jewels and rare metals. There are, however, many other uses for the term “precious” in the Bible.

When Leah’s sixth son was born, she said, “God has presented me with a precious gift” (Genesis 30:20). Job says that a smile in the time of trouble is precious (Job 29:24)—and he should know, because he suffered a lot. Life is called “precious” (Psalms 22:20, 35:17), as is death, for the Bible says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).

Wisdom is said to be more precious than rubies (Proverbs 3:15, 8:11). God’s words are “more precious…than much pure gold” (Psalm 19:10), and so are His “very great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4).

It’s not surprising that the blood of Christ is called precious (1 Peter 1:19). In fact, Jesus Himself is called the “precious cornerstone” of the Church, or body of Christ (1 Peter 2:6, 7). And, last, Peter speaks of our faith as being precious (2 Peter 1:1).

Oh, there’s one more thing in scripture that God says is precious—you! God says, “You are precious and honored in my sight…and…I love you” (Isaiah 43:4). What a word of encouragement! God, who knows all our faults and failures, all our shortcomings and limitations, calls us “precious” and says He loves us. Take that thought with you today. Pass the day’s events through its filter. Don’t forget it: God says, “You are precious and honored in my sight…and…I love you.”