THERE ONCE lived in the city of Lyons a lady who possessed what she thought was a great treasure in her old age.
She was very poor and while her husband lived, only by hard toil was he able to earn their daily bread. When he died, she was left childless, infirm and in great need.
She was forced to sell nearly everything she had and move to a very small room at the top of a house to spend the rest of her days. She was not without some knowledge of God, but knew very little about the Lord Jesus Christ and what He had done for us poor sinners.
One day she was sitting quietly in her little room when her eyes rested upon a wooden beam of her white-washed ceiling, and she noticed the outline of what might have been a square hole now covered up. She examined it more closely and thought to herself perhaps there is some treasure hidden there.
Perhaps some rich man had hidden his wealth there, and died before he had been able to remove it. She tapped it gently with her finger and the boards returned a hollow sound.
With beating heart she tried to remove the square door, and soon succeeded without much difficulty; but alas! instead of finding in the recess the silver and gold that she hoped for, she saw nothing but a damp, dirty, mouldy old book.
In her disappointment she was ready to put back the wooden door and leave the old book where it was, but on second thoughts she took it out to see if there were any valuable papers hidden between its leaves; but no, she found nothing but the book.
When she had recovered from her disappointment she began to wonder what book it could be that had been hidden away so carefully. It surely must be of some value. So she wiped the dust off the cover and began to read, and her eyes fell upon these words: “Therefore say I unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Matt. 6:2525Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? (Matthew 6:25).
These words to her seemed so sweet and precious that she read on and on during the day, and far into the night, almost forgetting to eat or sleep.
She began to see that she had indeed found a treasure. Her little room no longer looked so desolate, and her daily food did not seem so dry and tasteless, for she had a book that told her about the love of God and helped her to forget her poor surroundings.
She had the book cleaned and bound, and it became to her like meat and drink both day and night. Through it she learned to know the Lord Jesus as her own Saviour, and her heart was filled with joy at the prospect of going to be with Him.
Now do you know that you may have a book on your shelf exactly like this lady’s book, for it was a Bible, and if you read it carefully, as she did, it may make you as happy as she was. Oh that it might be so!
ML-03/28/1971