Scripture Valued Above Gold: The Drowned Sailor's Bible

The psalmist declares that God's ordinances are "more to be desired than gold" (Psalm 19:10). Consider the excellence of the Holy Scriptures against earthly treasure. Gold grants access to possessions yet satisfies no deeper hunger; riches cannot benefit the soul beyond this life and often tempt toward sin. Few in any community attain substantial wealth, yet all may possess the Word of Yahweh.

On a stormy shore, wreckers discovered a drowned sailor boy stripped for his final struggle. A handkerchief bound his cold breast. These scavengers tore it open, certain it concealed gold—a fortune worth dying with. They found instead a mother's parting gift: her son's Bible. That small volume proved infinitely more precious than any metal.

A Christian soldier called Scripture his "Klondyke," mining "good lumps of gold" from Psalm 91:15: "I will answer him. I will be with him... I will deliver him... satisfy him, and show him My salvation." This ore requires spiritual excavation. To taste Scripture's sweetness, one must read with renewed spirit and Divine illumination, not as a formal reader but with patient perseverance, reflecting upon its designs and our circumstances.

The Scriptures contain discoveries of incalculable worth: the glory of the invisible Elohim revealed as pure Spirit, infinite and eternal in being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. They proclaim God's will and the manner of acceptable worship. No earthly treasure compares.