A Wonderful Treasure

Travelling with God’s word in uncertain times.

When I was training to be a minister, I spent two months living in Malawi. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. I have many memories of those 8 weeks. Memories of being places I never imagined I would be, meeting people I never thought I would meet. 

For people who live in a country like Malawi daily life is marked by uncertainty. Back in the year 2000 life expectancy in that part of Africa was frighteningly low. Food shortages were never far away, diseases of many kinds were common, accidents costly to human life formed part of the daily backdrop of people’s lives. Access to hospitals and medicine was inconceivably limited, and what healthcare there was, was often basic beyond imagining.

Before I travelled to Malawi, I remember an older Christian encouraging me to make a point of reading my Bible every day when I was travelling through that country. ‘You’ll meet God there’ she said. I was grateful for her advice.

As I read a section of the Bible each day, in new and uncertain places, I found that it was almost as if the Bible became a new book to me. Verses that talked of God as a ‘refuge’, a ‘shield’, a ‘comfort’ and a ‘help’ became truths that I saw worked out in the lives of those around me. Other parts of the Bible that wrestled with a God who is in control and yet at times unseen, started to chime with real life in a way that I had never previously experienced. 

I remember learning a song while there, sung by a group of young people, making their way through a village one Saturday morning:

I’ve a wonderful treasure, gift of God without measure

So, we’re travelling together my Bible and I.

We live in uncertain times. We live in times that are uncertain in ways that we could never really have imagined or anticipated. Such uncertainty is not new for Christian people, but it is new for us. Over the past ten days I have began each day by reading a Psalm from the Bible. Beginning at Psalm 1, I am taking them in order. Before looking at my phone, or turning on the news, I have found this to be really helpful. 

I am not a doctor, or a scientist or a politician. There are many things I do not know or understand. But as a Christian pastor I remember those young people in Malawi and I am persuaded by their testimony, and the testimony of many others met along the way, that God’s word is a wonderful treasure, a gift of God without measure, in all circumstances and at all times.

So, as we travel into the uncertain weeks that lie ahead, I have put together a simple reading plan that will allow us to ‘travel together’ with a portion of God’s word for each new day. Beginning at Psalm 1, this plan will take us through the first 72 Psalms. By His Holy Spirit, may the risen Lord Jesus meet us, and warm our hearts for daily witness (Luke 24 vs 32), as we walk this road.