We know faith by the hearing of God’s word. Romans 10: 17, “faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” Of course, not just hearing, but reading God’s word. It seems that our Christianity in America has become so easy, so comfortable, so safe, that we take God’s word for granted. Most every household has a Bible. That’s not to say it is read in every household. In countries where the Christian faith is not so free and safe, there is danger in even owning a Bible. The persecuted, the secret Christian, the one without God’s word in their hand, has a much higher desire for the Bible than we seem to have here.

Ravi Zacharias was a Christian apologist who preached the gospel in countries that were hostile to his message. He became good friends with his Vietnamese translator Hien Pham during the war. They connected again 17 years later and Hien related his story.

Hien was put in prison after the fall of South Vietnam – for helping the Americans. His jailers worked to change his views on democracy and Christianity. His reading was restricted to communist propaganda papers. After some time, they began to make him question his faith. “Maybe,” he thought, “I have been lied to. Maybe God does not exist. Maybe the West has deceived me.” One lonely night, he determined that he would not pray anymore.

The very next morning, he was assigned the dreaded chore of cleaning the prison latrines. As he cleaned a can overflowing with toilet paper, his eye caught some English words printed on one piece of paper. He washed it off and read, “Romans Chapter 8, It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Hien broke down in tears. He cried out to God, asking forgiveness for giving up. Imagine that, what his jailers were using for toilet paper was treasured by Hien. And so the next day he volunteered to clean the latrines every day. Each day he picked up portions of scripture and cleaned them for his collection.

What measures would you be willing to take to spend time reading God’s word? Risk your home and possessions to read it? Cross through enemy fire? Clean a latrine? How about crossing your living room, finding your Bible, and opening it up?