Salum’s Bible

“Did you remember the Bible?” I asked my husband as our family squeezed into the car. “I promised Salum we would bring it to him.”

“Yep,” my husband said, smiling as he started the car and handed me the Bible.

We met Salum, a Muslim man, in our first year on the field. He’s an employee at our favorite local restaurant. At first, our conversations with Salum were short and simple. But the more language we learned over the years, the longer our conversations became. And many times, the topic turned to religion. He had many questions for us about our faith in Jesus Christ.

Recently, Salum told us he was interested in reading God’s Word for himself. We offered to bring him a Bible the next time we came to the restaurant.

Now I held in my hands a Bible in his own language. As we drove to the restaurant to pick up our take-out order, I prayed that Salum’s heart would be open to Jesus as he read the Word.

When we arrived at the restaurant, I offered to stay in the car with the kids. “Why don’t you go in to pick up dinner and give Salum his Bible?” I suggested to my husband.

He nodded, took the book, and headed into the restaurant.

Moments later, I glanced up and saw Salum coming out of the restaurant looking for our car. I rolled down the car window and waved. An enormous grin stretched across his face when he saw me, and he sprinted toward us.

“This book!” Salum exclaimed, holding it tightly against his chest. “I’ve waited for it my entire life! I’m going to call my mother when I finish work and tell her that I finally have the Bible. Thank you so much!”

I held back the tears burning my eyes.

As he returned to the restaurant, he was greeted by three of his friends. I watched as he showed off his new Bible. One of the young men grabbed it, thumbed through the pages, and read a couple lines for himself.

At that point, I couldn’t hold back the tears of joy any longer. They streamed down my face as I thanked God for the privilege to be a part of Salum’s journey of faith. He has not yet embraced Jesus as His Savior. But for the first time in his life, he has access to the Word. And he’s hungry to know Christ.

  • Pray that Salum would be drawn to Jesus as he reads the Word and that he would become rooted in God’s truth.
  • Ask the Lord to use him in mighty ways to share Gospel stories with others.
  • Pray that God would equip Salum to help catalyze a great movement of faith in Jesus Christ among his people.

**This account comes from a long-term worker. Names have been changed for security.**

Main photo by Masjid Pogung Dalangan

Original article: https://www.frontiersusa.org/blog/article/salums-bible

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