“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
    and do what is just and right in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved
    and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
    The Lord Our Righteous Saviour.”

Jeremiah 23:5–6

After walking with Andrew Bonar through some of the poorest neighbourhoods in Scotland, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, the early-19th century Scottish pastor, wrote these words in his diary on 3 March, 1834:

“Accompanied A.B. on one of his rounds through some of the most miserable habitations I ever beheld. Such scenes I never before dreamed of. Ah, why am I such a stranger to the poor of my native town? I have passed their doors thousands of times; I have admired the huge black piles of buildings, with their lofty chimneys breaking the sun’s rays—why have I never ventured within? How dwelleth the love of God in me? How cordial is the welcome even of the poorest and most loathsome to the voice of Christian sympathy! What imbedded masses of human beings are huddled together, unvisited by friend or minister! ‘No man careth for our souls’ is written over every forehead. Awake, my soul! Why should I give hours and days any longer to the vain world, when there is such a world of misery at my very door? Lord put thine own strength in me; confirm every good resolution; forgive my past long life of uselessness and folly.”

May the Lord put His own strength in us, that we might be used to glorify His name in Scotland’s schemes, and in poor communities across the world.