A few miles from the City Centre of Inverness is the village of Croy. It is in this village that an old woman with a remarkable story to tell lived back in the early 1800s. Few today may know the story.
It was said of this old woman, “Married and settled in the parish of Croy, near Inverness, and was one of the most eminent Christians of her day. She lived long, and was greatly distinguished for her devotedness and fervency as a follower of the Lamb.” Such was life's end for this woman. Now let me tell you of her life's beginning.
She grew up in a remote part of the Isle of Skye. But as this young child grew, she became deeply impressed with the idea that God was not in her native isle. At the same time she was overcome by the feeling that she must go “in pursuit of Him where He was to be found.” It is recorded about the Isle of Skye, “Few on the island could read the Scriptures, and scarcely any copies of the Bible were in their possession.”
Still little more than in “childish years”, she slipped away from her family to begin her quest to find God. Travelling down through the island she crossed over to the mainland. Once off the ferry she began to ask people “where she might find God”. As she travelled along the lonely and remote tracks she met fellow travellers, called at solitary houses on the way, and always asked the question that concerned her most of all “where might I find God?”
She received “kindness mixed with pity, each contact unwilling to interfere with the delusion under which they believed she laboured”. Her family did not make much effort to trace her, their opinion being that she was unsound in mind.
Before moving on with her story I ask you to consider – if you were a fellow traveller and approached with the question, “Where can I find God?” How would you answer? Do you know God and how to find him? Not just in your head but in your heart – in other words do you know God personally?
Eventually our young friend arrived in Inverness. She stopped a woman in the street and asked her question, “I am come from Skye where God is not – can you tell me where I shall find Him?” The woman spoke with her and after talking for a while was struck not with the unusual nature of the question but the deep-toned earnest and solemnity of her manner. This woman offered her hospitality and took our inquirer home.
The following day being Sunday her benefactor, took her to a House of God where she could hear the Word of God preached and the Holy Scriptures explained. For the first time in her young life, the Gospel of God was declared to her. It entered her soul, “She was an awakened sinner, and soon became a happy convert.” This was not a childish thing - what she found lasted all her days. She saw, and followed “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” for the rest of her days.
Let me bring a few practical thoughts to you about this “young girl, of little more than childish years”. She knew there was a lack in her life and that lack was God! She would have asked her parents, her other family members, her neighbours even others she met, but none could help, Probably they just replied to her “O be quiet child, don't bother yourself with things such as that”.
But she did bother and put her heart and soul into searching for God. When your heart tells you, you have a need to know God does your mind tell you to be quiet and not be so foolish? You mention to your family, friends that you need God in your life. Often they will laugh, smile, even sympathise. But mainly the reaction will be like that which our inquirer met when she asked the question “Where can I find God?” Some may even think that you are unsound in mind, just as they did with our young inquirer. Be like her, keep asking, keep looking. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” If this is your case then the following may help you in your search to know God.
Begin by reading the Bible, perhaps in the Gospels.
The Bible is the word of the Living God to men and women. It tells us that we find and know God through Jesus alone. Jesus said, “No man cometh unto the Father (God) but by me.” He also said, “I and my Father are one”. And again, “ … ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” Plain words! But is this not even plainer? “All things are delivered to me … and no man knoweth … who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.” To find God, first find the Son, and God the Father will be revealed.
Fine but how do I find the Son?
Christ said, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” Christ says even more, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
Reader, wherever there is a soul that wants Christ in this way, he comes at once. The apostle Paul confirms this “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Our young friend found God through Christ. God in Christ led her through her life, over the chasm of death and into eternity with Himself. What Christ did for her, He can do for you.