Gareth Davies, Cardiff

My initial reaction when asked to take part in Desert Island Verses was to think how bad it would be to be stuck on a desert island. This quickly moved on to how I could possibly choose a small number of verses to take with me to the Island. So I’ve had to be really disciplined (I’d have loved to have taken the whole of Psalm 123, Ephesians 1, Romans 5 and Romans 8) and I’ve picked those verses that have been especially precious to me over the past 12 months.

Which verses would you take to the desert island?

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

This is the crux of everything. I continually need to make sure that I don’t move from here. God loves me. Not because of who I am (after all, I was just a sinner). But because of who He is. He didn’t send Jesus to die for me because I was special, He sent Jesus to die for me because I was a sinner. I need to remember that every day.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32

Sometimes I can doubt that God will provide. I can doubt that He will be everything I need. I can imagine that on a desert island, these feelings would be even stronger. Paul slaps my thoughts back down where they belong. If God loves me enough to send His Son to die for me, then He loves me enough to provide everything that I need. This is so good, I’m left almost speechless. John Piper puts it like this:

“The point of verse 32 is that this love of God for his one and only Son was like a massive Mount-Everest obstacle standing between him and our salvation. Here was an obstacle almost insurmountable. Could God, would God, overcome his cherishing, admiring, treasuring, white-hot, affectionate bond with his Son and deliver him over to be lied about and betrayed and abandoned and mocked and flogged and beaten and spit on and nailed to a cross and pierced with a sword like an animal being butchered. Would he really do that? Would he hand over the Son of his love? If he would, then whatever goal he is pursuing could never be stopped. If that obstacle were overcome in the pursuit of his good, every obstacle would be overcame.”

He did… and now every obstacle is overcome.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:8

I could have chosen the whole of this Psalm – it’s truly amazing. I especially love this verse though. I’m frequently reminded of how dirty my sin is. How dark it is. How offensive it is. Yet, I also need to remember this – God has removed it from me, not just to the end of my road, not just to the edge of Cardiff but as far as the East is from the West. On a globe this is an infinite amount. You never stop going East or West.

Jesus wept. John 11:35

This may, on the surface, appear to be a strange verse to include but this verse has been so helpful for me over the past few months since my Dad died in December. Our Saviour’s care for us is not some abstract concept – here He is. Upset at the death of a friend. Nothing unusual in that in one sense. You know, when you hear the news of a loved one dying, you can’t help it. What makes this verse so amazing is when we consider who Jesus is and what He’s about to do. When we consider that Jesus is God, He knows something we don’t as He comes to Lazarus’ grave – He knows why it’s happening but also that in a few minutes he’ll resurrect Lazarus and rather than everyone mourning they’ll all be rejoicing. I think this is amazing. He could have just said to them, “wait until you see what I’m about to do”. But He doesn’t. He enters into the grief of his children. We have a Saviour who is not aloof but weeps with us.

For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 2 Corinthians 5:4

I must confess – prior to December last year, I’d never really paid this verse much attention. The last few words have been such a comfort and also realigned how I view life & death. I’ll never forget Peter Milsom helpfully sharing with me that we often think of this world being the land of the living and that we fall into the land of the dead. But the Christian message is actually that this earth is the land of the dying and that, in Christ, we will go to the land of the living. One day death will be swallowed up by life.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Revelation 21:4-5

I’m cheating a little on this last one as I’ve picked two verses but this is the great hope for all Christians isn’t it!? I was leaving work to go home. I knew it was going to be the last time I would see my father alive. As I was leaving, one of my best friends in work said, “I hope everything goes ok. Good luck”. Good luck! At first I thought it was a really strange thing to say but then I realised it was all they had. In this materialistic, atheistic society, the best my friend could offer was good luck. How different is the Christian gospel?! Instead of good luck we have, “Behold, I am making all things new”. What a great Saviour we have. One who will one day make all things new.

Which Christian from the past would you like to find on the island for company?

This is a tough question. I think I’d go for Christmas Evans. I can remember reading his biography as a teenager and being seized by his stories. I would love the chance to talk to him about his ministry across Wales and listen to his stories. He was a very eccentric preacher so it would certainly be interesting with the “one-eyed man of Anglesey”!

Which song would you take to the island?

Sometimes in our worship, there is no room for pain, hurt and suffering… George Matheson’s hymn from 1882 is one that acknowledges the difficulties and hurts of life before pointing us to Jesus.

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O Light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.