I suppose most of you have read about David, the shepherd boy, and how he killed the giant, Goliath. But did you know that this same David became a mighty king, and was used of the Lord to write the greater part of one of the books of the Bible? That book is called the “Psalms.”
I am going to tell you a story about some men who read the words of David in the Psalms, and loved them so well that they were eager to learn more about the blessed Lord of whom David spoke.
Mr. Ellis was sitting reading in his little house in the far away island of Madagascar. A gentle knock came at the door, and there he found two dark and weary-looking natives. They had heard that he was a missionary, and so they had come to him that they might hear more about God’s Book and the Saviour of whom that Book speaks. And how far do you think these two weary travelers had come to have a visit with the Lord’s servant? They had walked one hundred miles through bush and trackless wild, where all sorts of perils abound. How far do you walk to Sunday school? I know there are some folks who tell us that they bong to Jesus, but they don’t like to walk even one mile to hear about Jesus, especially if it happens to be hot or cold, or raining. Yet those two men, who had once been heathen idol worshipers, had walked one hundred miles to see and talk with a Christian.
Mr. Ellis asked them if they had ever seen a Bible.
“We have seen it and heard it read, but we have only some of the words of David, and they do not belong to us. They belong to the whole tribe.
“Do you have the words of David with you now?”
The men looked at each other and did not answer. Perhaps they were afraid to say yes, for at that time there was a great persecution against anyone who carried a Bible, and many had been put to death. But Mr. Ellis encouraged them, and at last one of the men put his hand into his robe, and drew out a roll of cloth. He unrolled the cloth till he came to some wrappers, and then, having opened these, he showed Mr. Ellis a few torn leaves of the Psalms, dingy with age and almost worn out!
These precious pages were regularly passed around from one family to the other until they were almost impossible to read any more. Tears came to the eyes of Mr. Ellis when he saw these leaves, and he asked the men whether they had ever seen the words of the Lord Jesus, or of Paul, or of John.
“Yes, we have seen and heard them, but we have never owned them.”
The missionary then went and brought out a New Testament and Psalms, and showed it to them.
“Now,” he said, “if you will give me your few words of David, I will give you all his words, and all the words of Jesus Christ, and John and Paul and Peter besides. It is all God’s Word.”
You may guess how delighted and astonished the poor men were. And yet they clung to those worn pages and would not give them up until they had compared them carefully with the words of the new Book. When at last they found that the words were the same, and that there were thousands more of the same sort, their joy knew no bounds. They willingly gave up their tattered pages and started for home with that best of all books The Word of God.
These men had once been worshipers of gods of wood and stone. But the light of God had shone into their dark hearts, and discovered to them that they were sinners and that their dead idols could do them no good. The love of God had shone into their hearts too, telling them that the blood of Jesus, the Son of God could cleanse their hearts and give them life. Gladly they bowed to the true God whom they could not see, and accepted Jesus as their Saviour. And then how they loved His wondrous Book. Do you? I know some people who own lovely Bibles, and they look at the nice cover and the gilt pages, but they do not love the Saviour who gave them the Book.
ML 08/26/1953