Gems from the Psalms – Day 5

God’s word is a light that we all need to guide us along life’s path. Imagine being brought up as a Christian in Wales, more than 200 years ago. At church and in Sunday school, you hear the joyful news of God’s love for you. You hear about how his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, laid down his life for you.

Then, as your reading skills improve at school, you long to read the Bible for yourself. You know the Bible is available in Welsh, but you also know Bibles are in very short supply and your family cannot afford one. Yet, you crave a Bible of your own. You begin to save money through your teenage years. At sixteen, you walk 40 km from your village to Bala, the nearest town.

There, you meet a minister who is so moved by your quest for a Bible, that he places one of his own in your hands. This is the true story of Mary Jones.

Later, the minister describes his encounter with Mary Jones, when pleading for more Bibles for Wales at a meeting of ministers in London. With prophetic vision, one of the ministers exclaims, “If for Wales, why not for the whole world!” – and that led to the establishing of the British and Foreign Bible Society on 7 March 1804. Its calling was to translate, produce and distribute affordable Bibles.

At that time, complete Bibles had only been translated in 40 languages. Since then, the light of God’s word has spread throughout the world. The complete Bible is now available in hundreds of languages and over 2 000 languages have at least one Bible book translated into their language.

The Bible Society of South Africa has ensured that the complete Bible is available in all of our eleven official languages. Spread the word and let the light of his word guide others along life’s way.