A former Jewish Rabbi had been brought to the Lord and told the following interesting story of his conversion.
“It is many years since I left Jerusalem,” he began. “A good man there told me these words: ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God,... and all these things shall be added unto you.’ But I looked upon this man as an enemy, and sought for other things before the kingdom of God; that is why I am in poverty: it is my own fault.
I had met this good man several times; the day before I left Jerusalem I met him again and told him I was going to travel and make money. He looked pained, and said to me: ‘O my friend, seek ye first the kingdom of God.’ I laughed at his words then, and never thought of them again till I was in great trouble.
“Crossing the Atlas Mountains, I fell among robbers who took away all my money, my clothes, and even my phylacteries.” (Phylacteries are small leather boxes containing some Hebrew scriptures, which Jews would often wear on their head and arm during prayer.)
“I wept when they took away my phylacteries, and said to them, ‘Do not take away what I use when I say my prayers.’ But one of the robbers jokingly remarked that he should use the leather strap to fasten on his sword, and the shawl on which I used to kneel in prayer, he said he should cut up to make himself a shirt.
“Presently, however, one of the robbers brought me a book, saying, ‘O Jew, do not cry any more, I’ll bring you something much better.’ So saying he handed me a Hebrew Bible. It was old and the covers gone. He told me he had stolen it from the house of some poor Jew he had pillaged. The robber had given me a lesson without knowing it, for he did not himself know what the book was.
“During the weeks of imprisonment I read that Hebrew Bible much. I found written there: ‘He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.’ Eccles. 5: 10. And now, though I have lost everything in this world, I can say, ‘The Lord is my portion, therefore will I hope in Him.’ Lam. 3:2424The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. (Lamentations 3:24).
“At the end of six weeks I was released by the robbers, but did not go on seeking for riches; I had found something better, even the unsearchable riches of Christ.”
A young boy once said he thought the Bible a very dull Book, until he discovered that it told about a Person. As he read on he found in the Lord Jesus his soul’s delight— “the chiefest among ten thousand... the altogether lovely One.” May this same blessed discovery be yours, dear young reader.
O Christ, He is the fountain,
The deep sweet well of love;
The streams on earth I’ve tasted,
More deep I’ll drink above.
ML 07/09/1967