“The Bible is a heavenly book. If you want one, you’ll need to pray to the God of heaven. Only He can provide you a heavenly book. God is faithful. He always answers those who seek Him with all their heart.”* This was the response of an old pastor who had spent twenty years in prison for his faith when Yun asked if he could see a Bible. Yun had never seen a Bible. The penalty for being caught with a Bible would mean that the Bible would be burnt and the owner's whole family would be severely beaten in the middle of the village.
Yun went home, and every morning and afternoon he ate nothing and drank nothing. Every evening he ate just one small bowl of steamed rice. He cried like a hungry child to his Heavenly Father, wanting to be filled with His Word. For the next 100 days he prayed for a Bible, until he could bear it no more. His parents were sure that he was losing his mind.
This was from the book that I was reading to my grandchildren about a Chinese teenage boy who was the same age as my grandson is now. I lowered the book, looked at Jack and asked, “What do you think about this?”
In my home the Word of God is ubiquitous. When my grandchildren were toddlers I gave them picture Bibles. I have many Bibles on my shelves. If that were not enough, I have two Bible apps so that I can listen to the Bible being read aloud to me. Oh yes, and I can choose to listen to it in whatever version I want. The hunger for God’s Word in a country where it is scarce humbles me to the core.
The Word of God had become flesh and was dwelling among them in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. As so often happens in a small town, they were saturated by His presence. They knew everything they needed to know about the son of Mary. Small towns thrive on gossip. By the time Jesus came back to His home synagogue He had cured people of leprosy, driven out demons and even raised the dead. But they still saw Him as the carpenter they had grown up with. Jesus was so familiar that He was contemptible. “So they were offended by Him” (Mark 6:3).
The Gadarene Demoniac, Jairus, the synagogue leader, and the woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years had all come and had fallen at the feet of Jesus. No one in Nazareth would have dreamed of falling at His feet! “Jesus was amazed at their unbelief and He was unable to do any miracles there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them” (Mark 6:5). Yun not only received a Bible but went on to encounter Jesus in miraculous ways. What does the church in China see that I can’t see? Is it possible that I, like those in Nazareth, have been blinded by familiarity?
*The Heavenly Man*
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