The fishing had been poor all that season along the seacoast, and not a few of the fisher folks were feeling the pinch of want before the winter had come to the quiet fishing village. Two us three Christian fishermen met together to pray that God who had oved them as sinners, and had given to them His best and greatest gift, even His own beloved Son to be their Saviour, would as the Lord of earth and sea, provide them and their families with the necessities of life.
That prayer of faith was answered sooner and more abundantly than either of them expected. The following bright autumn morning brought such a shoal of fish, that the fishermen and their wives had been busy since daybreak gathering into baskets the harvest of the sea.
The sale from that one night’s fishing enabled the simple fisher folks to lay in store of such things as they needed for the coming winter. Nor was the Lord forgotten, for they had learned that the first fruits of all His people’s increase is the Lord’s own portion. When the fathers and mothers went off to town to go shopping, the children put in a strong plea to be remembered with a gift. None pleaded more earnestly than little Amy, the youngest of the family, whose request was, “Please buy me a Bible.”
Bibles in those days were not so plentiful or so cheap as they are now, but her godly father, rather than disappoint his little girl, denied himself a new jacket and brought with him Amy’s treasure. It was only a secondhand Bible, and had been evidently much used by its former owner, but it was greatly prized nevertheless.
“I will read to you every night now, Daddy,” said the little girl triumphantly, and then and there, she began to read the word of God to the circle around the fisherman’s fireside. Then she stopped reading.
“Here are some pages fastened together, Daddy. I cannot read any more till you loosen them,” said Amy, handing the book over to her father. Her father took the Bible, moistened the leaves and separated them reverently, lest he should damage the Book of God, when lo and behold, there fell from between the leaves a number of bank notes. Astonished, the fisherman called his wife to see the strange find.
“They are not ours,” said his wife; “you must take them at once to the Notary; he will tell you whose they are.” So they did. The lawyer examined the bills, and from the center of the pile he pulled out a piece of parchment on which there were a few lines of writing. It proved to be a will, and read as follows: “I have gathered this money; it is all my own. I have no friends to whom I can leave it. Whoever becomes the possessor of this Bible, and reads it, I make my heir.”
The fisherman returned to his humble home with thankful heart, and around the fireside that night they listened with fresh interest to the wonderful words of God’s own Book. And Amy found other riches there, even “the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7)); the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:88Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; (Ephesians 3:8)). The dear girl was saved in her early years, and through a long life she delighted in the Book which she read and searched for hidden treasure. She was used in that fishing village to lead many to the Saviour.
And now, dear young friend, do you know Jesus as your Saviour, and is the Word of God to you more than gold that perishes? There is nothing in this world to be compared to being Christ’s, and having God’s Word as your guide.
ML 03/14/1965