Hidden Gems

At Whit's End, Olivia finds Whit absorbed in the story of Abraham, which he has read countless times and still finds powerful. Olivia admits she is not big on rereading things, and she is confident she already knows every story in the Bible. Whit proposes a challenge: he will come up with a Bible story she has never heard. If she recognizes it, there will be a reward involving ice cream. He leads her to the Imagination Station and sends her through the door.

Olivia lands in a bustling city where crowds are rushing toward the temple. A boy named Marcus tells her a man with the power of God is there, and Olivia figures this will be easy. "I know every Jesus story there is," she boasts. But the man turns out to be Simon, called the Great Power, a magician who performs tricks for money. Olivia watches him take three months' wages from a man with a sick wife, produce a puff of smoke, and then demand even more money before any healing will happen. Next a woman named Joanna arrives, but not to pay. She had asked Simon to curse her enemy Dinah, and now she refuses to go through with it. She has heard a preacher named Philip telling people about Jesus and forgiveness, and she plans to forgive Dinah instead. Olivia urges Simon to go hear Philip too, but Simon only wants to learn the preacher's "secrets." Later, by the river, Olivia herself is baptized by Philip, and she finds Simon there, freshly baptized and searching for the apostle Peter. Simon offers Peter a fortune in silver in exchange for the power to give people the Holy Spirit. Peter turns on him fiercely: "You cannot buy the gift of God with money." Terrified, Simon begs Peter to pray that God will not strike him down, and Peter tells him to repent and seek God's forgiveness. The scene ends warmly for Olivia when Peter gladly offers to pray for her.

Back in the Bible Room, Whit reveals the story comes from Acts chapter 8. Olivia admits she missed that one but insists there cannot possibly be two Bible stories she has not read, so Whit sends her through another door.

This time she appears in the desert, where she startles a donkey belonging to a harsh traveler named Balaam, who beats the animal to make it move. Olivia scolds him for hurting it. Balaam explains he has been summoned by the King of Moab to help with a battle against the Israelites, and he claims God has given him permission to go. Along the road the donkey keeps balking, first stopping, then crushing Balaam's foot against a vineyard wall, then lying down entirely. As Balaam beats the animal in a fury, the donkey suddenly speaks: "What have I done to make you beat me?" Then the angel of the Lord appears in the road. The angel explains that Balaam's path is reckless and that if the donkey had not stopped, the angel would have killed him, because God sees that Balaam's heart is tempted by the king's money. Balaam confesses his sin, and the angel tells him to go on to the king but to speak only the words God gives him, blessing Israel rather than cursing God's own people.

Whit tells the astonished Olivia that the talking donkey is in the book of Numbers, and together they draw out what the two stories share: Simon and Balaam were both greedy, both worked against God's people, and both were given a chance to repent. Whit explains that reading God's Word every day invites God to teach and guide us, and Olivia realizes, "It's like God talking to us." Eager for one more adventure, she takes a glass of water from Whit, who tells her she will be delivering it to a king.

Olivia carries the water into a palace and finds King Josiah, who is only eight years old and grieving his father, killed in the palace just days before. An official announces that the priests of Baal want to enlarge their temple, advising the boy king not to upset anyone, since his father and grandfather both worshiped Baal. But Josiah tells Olivia he worships the true God, even though he feels lost ruling the whole nation of Judah as a child. Olivia points out that he knows something his advisers do not, who the true God is, and that he should please God rather than the people. When Olivia slips through a servants' door, she finds Josiah grown into a confident king. His scribe Shaphan reports that workers restoring the temple have found a long-lost scroll: the Book of the Law. As Shaphan reads its commands against worshiping other gods and its warnings about a faithless generation, Josiah is stricken, realizing how greatly his nation has sinned. He orders prayer, has everything used for idol worship removed from the temple, and plans to read the entire Book of the Law aloud to all his people. Word comes from the prophetess Huldah that because Josiah humbled himself before the Lord, his reign will be blessed with peace. Josiah makes a covenant to follow God's commandments with all his heart and soul, declaring that the book must be read over and over. Olivia happily agrees: every part of it.