The God of Abraham, Moses, and Nehemiah - When You Stand Empty Handed

"For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans x. 13 - 14)

The article had successfully moved her to compassion, but the verse at its conclusion added conviction. There were millions of people in China who had never heard of Jesus Christ and someone had to tell them! The question was who? 

Gladys was sure she could find someone; at the very least, she could try. Over the course of the next week she visited several of her friends to tell them of the plight of the Chinese. None of them were overly concerned. How can they be so calloused? Gladys wondered. The thought of so many souls perishing without any knowledge of their Savior was keeping her up at night. She could not allow herself to be easily deterred. Gladys moved on to the next recruit - her brother. She was certain that she could convince him to go.

“Not me!” He declared as soon as she had finished explaining the situation. “That’s an old maid’s job! Why don’t you go yourself?” Gladys’ eyebrows rose. It wasn’t the response she had anticipated. An old maid’s job is it! Still his point rang true. Why don’t I go myself? Why am I trying to delegate my convictions to someone else?

 The idea of going herself gave rise to a string of objections. How would I get the money to go to China? I don’t know anyone in China. I would be a young woman alone in a country that I don't know anything about! That wasn’t quite true, she did know one thing about the place - she knew that they needed God there. Maybe that was enough. Gladys stopped her recruiting attempts and began to pray about going to China. She asked questions, trying to figure out how a person went about such a thing. She was soon told that she must volunteer herself to a missionary society and this she did.    

Three months in to her training at the China Inland Mission Society, Gladys was asked to attend a meeting. The purpose was to inform her that the missionary committee had decided not to send her to China. They considered too old, at twenty eight, and believed she had far too little education to be able to learn such a difficult language as Chinese. Gladys left the meeting in silence, her hopes greatly disappointed. The president of the society followed her out.

“What will you do now, Miss Aylward?”

“I don’t know, but I know God doesn’t want me to go back to being a maid, He wants me to do something for Him.”

“Well, in the meantime, would you consider helping some of our retired missionaries? They are living in Bristol and are in need of a housekeeper.” 

He must not have heard me! She thought. She had just said that she was not going back to work as a maid and here he was offering her just such a position!

God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble. The verse came into her thoughts as a gentle but firm reproach. Was she sure that it was God who did not want her to go back to work as a maid? He had laid China on her heart, that she knew, but this didn’t necessarily negate that. Here she was without any work, without any place to go, and intending to turn down an opportunity that had been laid at her feet. Perhaps I am just being proud.

“I will go. But first I want to thank everyone here for their kindness to me in the last few months. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to learn much,” she swallowed hard. She meant every word but never had she faced anything so difficult as saying them. “I did learn to pray though,” she added, “to really pray, as I never had before and for that I will always be grateful.”

Gladys went to Bristol and found Mr. and Mrs. Fisher to be sweet, God –fearing people. Never had she met anyone who relied on God so thoroughly as they did. He was their friend and they laid everything at His feet, be it a blessing or a need. 

They often told her stories from the mission field, stories of the things they had seen God do.

“God never lets you down. He sends you, guides you, and provides for you. Maybe He doesn’t answer your prayers as you want them answered, but He does answer them. Remember that no is as much an answer as yes.” Mr. Fisher told her.

“How am I to know if He wants me in China or here in Bristol?”

“Ask Him to show you and then wait and watch. He will give you an answer in His time.” Gladys nodded. It seemed as if all she could do was pray and wait yet the passion to go to China was growing inside of her all the time.

After working for the Fishers for a few months, Gladys went to work at a mission in Swansea. Every evening she made her way down to the worst parts of the town to minister to and plead with the girls who loitered in the streets and public houses. Every now and then she would succeed in rescuing one from the life of slavery they had fallen in to. Finally, she was doing God’s work but the longing to bring the gospel to China’s masses persisted. 

Gladys had a few different ideas as to how she could get there. One was to go with a family who was in need of a nanny. But this, along with all of her other plans was met with opposition. The people she confided her frustrations to told her to, “put the thought of China out of [her] head,” but it would not go. She believed that it was God who had placed China on her heart so she couldn’t understand why every attempt she made to get there ended in failure.

After one such disappointment, Gladys was on the train returning from London to Swansea. She took her bible out of her bag and flipped it open to the first few pages. If I am going to teach people about this book, I suppose I should get to know more about it. She started reading at the very first word and didn’t lift her eyes from the page until the train pulled into the station. Even then she closed it just long enough to get back to her room. She had come to the story of Abram.

“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.” Here was a man who God had called to leave his country and his family to go to a place he did not know. How is my call to China any different from that? 

Over the course of the next few days, Gladys spent every spare moment reading her bible. It wasn’t long before she reached the life of Moses. He too had left all behind to follow God’s call. Gladys realized that the flight of Moses after he killed the Egyptian and his time in Midian were not random events in his life. God had used the first to take him out Egypt and the second to prepare him to lead His people when they would be in the wilderness. God had been directing Moses’ life in these things, though they looked like backward steps, as much as He was when He called out to him from the midst of the burning bush. 

Suddenly she saw it! The same was true in her own life, God had called her as he had Abraham, and He could use the apparent failures in her life as He had used those in Moses’. 

She couldn’t get herself to China but perhaps God still intended to take her there!

In an act of faith, Gladys moved to London and took on a job as a maid again. She would work to save the cost of a fare to China and leave the rest of the planning in God’s hands. On her third morning in London, Gladys’ reading brought her to the book of Nehemiah. As she began to read the story she found that she could easily sympathize with Nehemiah. She knew too well the grief he felt when he saw Jerusalem in great need yet could do nothing about it. Then she reached the second chapter.

“But he did go!” She exclaimed. “He went in spite of everything!”

“Gladys Aylward, is the God of Nehemiah your God?” The question came from a familiar voice, one that was never quite audible yet she could hear it with perfect clarity.

“Yes, of course.”

“Then do as Nehemiah did, and go!”

“But I am not Nehemiah.”

“No, but assuredly, I am his God!” 

Gladys sat in silence thinking over what her Lord had just said. Here were the marching orders she had been waiting for and now they sounded almost too good to be true. As far as she knew, nothing of her circumstances had changed, but she now knew she was going to China simply because her God had said she was! The very next day Gladys went down to the shipping office to inquire what the fare to China would be.

“Come on, Miss, I haven’t time for jokes. What is it that you really came in for?”

“To ask the price of a train fare to China.” She repeated patiently.

“I never heard of such a thing!”

“Can’t you find out for me?”

“Alright, if you come back in a day or so I’ll tell you what it’ll come to.” He agreed shaking his head. 

They next day Gladys returned to the shipping office and was told that a single fare on the Trans – Siberian Railroad would cost her forty-seven pounds. Most people made the trip by boat, she was told, but this came to a significantly higher cost. There was one other problem, the whole of Manchuria was a war zone and the railroad could give her no guarantee that she would even be able to get through it.

“There’s no point in trying. It’s far too much of a risk.” The clerk said decidedly.

“Well, seeing as I’m the one who would be taking the risk, won’t you let me save for that fare?” The clerk muttered his disapproval but took the three pounds that she held out to him. He may have thought she was crazy but he wasn’t going to turn down her money.

In addition to working as a maid, Gladys took on extra work in the evenings and on her day off. Every shilling was set aside and every time she managed to save a pound she ran it down to the shipping office to be put down on her account. About this time Gladys was told of an elderly, widowed missionary who had just recently returned to China. At seventy-three years old, Jeannie Lawson had purchased an inn and intended to offer mule train drivers a place to eat, sleep, rest their animals, and hear about Jesus Christ. She needed a young woman to help her with the work. 

The information was told to Gladys as a prayer request by a woman who knew nothing of her aspirations of getting to China. Gladys inquired about the position and procured an address for Mrs. Lawson. She wrote to Jeannie asking if she might come to China to help. Jeannie wrote a reply back that said, yes, if she could pay her own fare to get there! By Gladys’ calculations it would take her almost three more years to save the rest of the fare but she continued on anyways. It seemed like an impossible task but she had simply to believe in the God of the impossible. 

Within a few months Gladys had saved the entire sum! She stood on the platform of the train station, bag in hand, and wondered at how she had gotten there. No matter how hard she had tried, all her efforts had come to nothing yet still He had done it! He had intended to do it all along! In His own way, in His perfect timing, He had caused her to now be standing right where she had been trying to get all along. Mr. Fisher had been right when he had said that God doesn’t answer your prayers as you want them answered, but he was right also in saying that He does answer them.

Gladys recalled how many times she had thought she knew how God was going to take her to China and how often she had been disappointed. Being sent by a mission’s society, or going as a nanny, had been perfectly sensible options but she hadn't realized that God had a greater plan in mind. It was not just about getting there, it was about demonstrating His glory in every step of the way. She thought of Moses. From an earthly perspective he would have been in a better position to have asked for the freedom of the Israelites while he was exalted in Egypt as ‘the son of Pharaoh's daughter’. Instead, God had waited until Moses was no more than an exiled prince, a shepherd living in the wilderness of Midian. These things were not a mistake. God did not plan the freedom of Israel to come as a result of Moses' power. Rather it was meant to demonstrate the power of one who was greater than Moses had ever been. In order to show His own strength God allowed Moses' strength and position to fall away. He had done the same with all of Gladys' plans. 

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." (2 Corinthians iv. 7)

Gladys' strategy involved getting to China, but God intended to do so much more. He had a plan in which all the apparent failures had purpose. Though the China Inland Mission Society had not sent Gladys as she had hoped they would, they taught her to pray as she would need to pray in China. When she went to work for the Fishers it had seemed like a step backward but God knew that in their house she would see faith that challenged her own and come to know how blessed a friendship with Him could be. It was a plan that could have been brought about by God alone. In which no opportunity was wasted, no lesson that she needed to learn was overlooked, and all worked together to prepare her for the mission field and to showcase His wisdom and faithfulness. 

“If God leads you to walk a way that you know, it will not benefit you as much as if He would lead you to take the way that you do not know. This forces you to have hundreds and thousands of conversations with Him, resulting in a journey that is an everlasting memorial between you and Him. Your Leader will lead you to take an untrodden way, to go down a path you never dreamed of. He is afraid of nothing, and He wishes you to be afraid of nothing also. He is with you. In desperate situations it is His joy to see His children grasping His hands.” –Watchman Nee

God had shown Gladys where she was to go, so surely she could get there. Right? She had thought so at first but that assumption turned out to be wrong. When the missionary committee had said that Gladys didn't have what it would take to go to China, they were right. However, they overlooked the fact that God did. In Gladys' weakness His strength could be perfectly shown and in what looked like failure He was planning success!

 In truth, none of us have what is needed to accomplish His plans, even though sometimes we may think we can figure it out, but it is when our hands are empty and our efforts fail to bring success that we find an even greater opportunity to look to Him. Every other expectation we hold is prone to failure, but when we expect God to prove Himself perfectly faithful we will not be disappointed. The impossible situation is no more than an opportunity to have faith in the God of the impossible. So let's not be afraid to have empty hands, for it is in such a position that we can best hold on to our God! 

"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer." - Casper ten Boom

In Christ 

quiana 

That They Might Know Him - The Strength that was Found in the Hanoi Hilton

The War of Vietnam lasted just a few months short of twenty years. In it hundreds of American planes were downed over enemy territory. The fighter pilots who survived the injuries, that they acquired either in the crash or during the ejection process, found themselves prisoners of war. This is the story of ten such men, all of whom came to be held as captives in the Hanoi Hilton, a prison located in the heart of North Vietnam. Where they were isolated from the outside world and, for more than two years, even from each other. However, in the strictest solitary confinement they discovered that they were not alone...

Porter Halyburton looked at the still intact radio. Compared to the rest of the plane it had survived the crash remarkably well! The pilot's hand rose to tune it but he stopped himself. His training told him that he must destroy the radio to keep it from falling into the hands of the Vietnamese, who would use it to call other American planes into the range of their missiles. But as he pulled a knife from his belt his instincts continued to insist that he should try to get a message through; to let the rest of the world know that he was still alive. There isn't time to do both! The Vietnamese can't be more than five hundred yards away. Ugh, what a choice! But he had to make it, the soldier pursed his lips and destroyed his radio without another thought. There! It was done. Now his fate was really in God's hands.

...

His arm ached, the shoulder was out of its socket and he was pretty sure the bone was broken in a couple of places as well. And his arm was nothing in comparison to the pain that was radiating through his back. Ejecting from a plane, that's moving at five hundred miles per hour, is hard on a man's body! He observed. The little wooden stool on which he sat and the ropes that bound his arms and legs did little to ease his discomfort. Thus, even if he could have understood the words of the hastily appointed judge and jury, Sam Johnson was in too much agony to listen to the proceedings of the shanty courtroom. At least until the interpreter leaned close to explain their verdict to him. "You've been sentenced to die. You're a war criminal." That he heard! The man grinned as he said it,  he looked as though he was enjoying the whole affair immensely. Johnson said nothing in return, he knew too well that he was powerless in their hands. His captors half drug, half pushed him out of the little house and down a trail that led through the woods. Despite the agony he was in, they allowed him no break till he stood at the edge of the trench that was meant to be his grave. A firing squad was waiting. As the commander called for the weapons to be made ready, the American, who had never knelt before the Lord in a church, cried out to Him beneath the jungle canopy. "You know I just need Your help!" He confessed aloud; he was motivated to pray by sheer desperation and he saw no need to disguise it, for he was sure that God knew it already. It was in perfect sincerity that he then, silently, turned his life over to Jesus Christ. The command to fire was given in Vietnamese. Click, click, click, click, click - every one of the guns jammed. So that not a single bullet left it's barrel. Wow! There was no other word to describe it. Sam Johnson began to laugh - he could hardly help himself. He laughed aloud at men who were pointing loaded guns at his chest! For the first time since he had been captured, he realized that these men did not actually hold his life in their hands - that power belonged to one who was greater than them. "From that point forward I never had any fear of them again, because I knew the Lord was with me." - Sam Johnson

"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy xxxi. 6)

Most of the ten prisoners survived death sentences before they ever came to the Hanoi Hilton.  Several had stood at the edge of their own graves. Norm McDaniel had been hung till he lost consciousness. Then his executioners cut him down. In like manner, all of the other executions either failed or were strangely abandoned. So, even at the very start of their captivity, the prisoners began to see that, despite the power of their enemies, their lives remained in the hands of God. At the time when they had first crashed, or ejected from their planes, only a few of the ten had professed Christianity yet all arrived in Hanoi either as new believers or with a fresh challenge to live out the faith they claimed. In the jungles of Vietnam they received the one thing they would need in order to endure the prison to which they were headed - and that was God Himself!

“My goal is God Himself. Not joy, not peace, not even blessing but Himself. The person of my God.”  - Leonard Ravenhill

Lying on the block of concrete that he now called his bed, Porter starred up at the dim light bulb. There wasn't much else to look at. For though there was a window on the far wall, it was shuttered to keep any daylight from reaching him. The boredom alone is enough to drive a man crazy! He had only been in the cell two weeks but  already it felt like two months. At this rate, he wondered how long he could manage to persevere. It could be years before they come to free us - if we ever get freed ... No! He couldn't allow himself to think that way! The words of his guard must have been getting to his head, "You're an incorrigible reactionary and you'll never see another American again!" The man repeated, every time he came to the cell. Porter laughed at the statement. It was an impressive insult for someone who could hardly even speak the language, but he had to wonder if the man even knew what 'incorrigible reactionary' meant! His laughter changed to coughing as he breathed in the hot air. It must be more than a hundred and thirty degrees in this cell! As filthy as the floor was, he longed to be able to lie flat on it and breath some 'cool' air through the crack under the door. But metal stocks held his feet in place. The second part of the statement returned to his mind, "you'll never see another American again!" Those were the words that were actually threatening to him! At times he questioned his sense in destroying that radio when he had, had the chance to call for help. God knows we're here. Porter reminded himself.

"God, how I wish You would show me that You really do!" He prayed aloud. Some things have to be taken in faith. A few minutes later, he noticed a ray of light that was shining on the wall across from him. It wasn't the orange glow of the artificial bulb; it was sunlight! How have I never noticed that before? Through an almost undetectable crack in the wooden shutters a small stream of light, of God's light, entered the impenetrable cell. He had been lying on his back for two weeks looking at nothing but the roof and that wall, if it had been there before, he was sure that he would have noticed it! Porter shook his head and smiled. No matter where the Vietnamese put their prisoners God could still reach them!

 That glimmer of light returned to the cell every day for about ten minutes, to freshly encourage the prisoner that his God was indeed present with him. Days later, when Porter Halyburton was finally released from the stocks, he took an old scrap of paper and tore it into the shape of a cross. Then, with a piece of rice from his meager ration, he stuck it to the wall just where the sunlight touched. Now each day, when the light streamed in, it would meet the cross and remind him of the Light of the world who died on such an instrument in order to set him free! 

The crash, having to destroy the radio, the hot prison cell, the stocks, the little beam of light -it was all "so that [he] should seek the Lord, in the hope that [he] might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;" (Acts xvii. 27) The Lord had been near all the time, just waiting for Porter to look for Him that He might reveal Himself! Porter was not the only one of the prisoners to find God present in his isolation cell. Every one of the men recounted that they shared their prison with rats, cockroaches, and Jesus Christ!

"I had the wonderful, psychological feeling that I was was really pulling one over on the Vietnamese. They thought I was in there really suffering by being alone and I had a cell mate the entire time I was there.That was the Lord Jesus Christ." - Rodger Ingvalson

The prisoners gained strength and courage in fellowship of their Lord. In addition to this, God gave them the gift of fellowship with one another. It was against the rules to make contact with the other prisoners, but the men determined that it would be well worth the risk of punishment to do so. Their prison cells were situated in a long line and they began to realize that when any one of them tapped on the walls or the floor the sound carried through the whole length of the building. By this means they communicated; developing their own code for the alphabet and tapping messages, one letter at a time. It was a slow task but time was the one thing they had in abundance! They told stories and jokes, talked about their guards, and, above all, they prayed. "Every Sunday," Sam Johnson recalled, "someone would stomp on the floor and we would all kneel down together, even though we were by ourselves, and we would pray. The strength of prayer together is much stronger than just by yourself  and I know the Lord heard us."

"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew xviii. 20)

The men prayed together and they prayed individually. Despite their own desperate need, they did not reserve their prayers for themselves. Instead they prayed for their families back home, the troops still employed in the fight, and for one another. Prayer is access into the very throne room of a generous and merciful God and they discovered, that He supplied them with all that they really needed. 

"Prayer was the principle weapon, not anything else, and the principle ammunition was what God gave you back. That was the ability to stay cheerful enough and persevering enough to do what you needed to do." - Jeremiah Denton

When they weren't praying, the prisoners kept their minds and bodies busy. They solved math problems, encouraged one another, remembered happier times, and, when not restrained in stocks, they walked three to five miles per day by pacing the length of their cells. As Denton said, God gave them cheerfulness and perseverance. He also gave them faith, faith in Him, that kept them from despair.

"Someone described faith as taking a rope, tying a knot into it, and hanging on for six years. It was a good description." - Red McDaniel

"In all the seven and a half years I never lost faith in my Saviour - lost faith in others, not my fellow POW's, but the people back home running things, yeah I lost faith in them but never in my Saviour and my fellow prisoners. They were there for me and God was there through them." - Fred Cherry

After the first, two years had passed the solitary confinement slowly began to be relaxed. The prisoners were allowed cell mates, all except Sam Johnson. His isolation was prolonged for three months after the others. It might have gone on longer still, if Jeremiah Denton hadn't called for the prisoners to go on a hunger strike. The rations they were given barely sustained them as it was, yet all of the men willingly forfeited in hope of freeing Sam from his prolonged solitude. It worked! The guards gave in and, within a few days, Sam Johnson was permitted to see two of the other prisoners. It was the first time he had seen a human being, besides his prison guards, in two and a half years! 

But just when things appeared to be getting better, the men had to face a new form of hardship - physical torture. One of the guards told the prisoners, "The Vietnamese have been refining the art of inflicting pain for four thousand years." They didn't doubt the truth of his words, but in this, as in isolation, God provided grace.

"And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." ( 2 Corinthians xii. 9 -10)

When a man would come back from a torture session, his cell mate would pray for him and the others would join in through their language of taps. In this way they employed the principle of 1 Corinthians xii. 26: "If one member suffers, all suffer together..." God gave them grace that was sufficient to care for one another and He demonstrated His grace through that care. Rodger Ingvalson - recounted an occasion when he was brought into an interrogation room and told that his wife had died. The prisoners never knew whether or not to believe the 'news from home', for they were only ever given bad news. Rodger had already known his wife to be in critical health, however, and so this report deeply shook him. Still he found grace sufficient to allow him to thank his captors for the news. When he was returned to his cell, he could no longer hold back the grief that burdened him. Thankfully God had a fresh measure of grace awaiting Rodger through the prayers and encouragement of his cell mate.

"Perhaps God brings us to the end of our resources so we can discover the vastness of His." — Neil Anderson

On April 30, 1975 the USA came to a peace agreement with Vietnam. Three days later the prisoners were informed of their freedom. Some had spent six and a half years in prison, others up to nine, finally they were told that they would all be going home! They would all be free! When they returned to the United States, they carried with them the lessons they had learned through isolation and torture and the grace God had supplied. Through their suffering they had gained a greater knowledge of their Saviour, become practiced in reaching Him through prayer, grown in faith, and been strengthened by a fellowship of believers with whom they would remain lifelong friends. They counted prison, isolation, and torture worthwhile, "that [they might] know Him and the power of His resurrection, and [might] share His sufferings, being conformed to His death," (Philippians iii. 10) 

May we desire to know the same even if we must endure hardship to find it!

In Christ 

quiana

Sources: Prisoner of Hope Documentary 

Sing a Little Louder - The Subtle Conquest of Indifference

I am a strong believer in the power of the written word, however, today I am going to make use of the strength of another genre to share a story with you. So please watch the video below before you continue reading.

You might be wondering how these people could have gone on with their daily lives - attending church to sing hymns and listen to preaching- when so much suffering surrounded them? Furthermore, you were probably disgusted at their hypocrisy. How dare they drown out cries for help by singing praise to a compassionate God! Why is it that the majority of the Christians who were within reach of the Jews refused to lift either hand or voice in their cause? 

Under the rule of the Nazi Party, resistance didn't seem like an option to most people, including these Christians. There was an unspoken understanding that permeated the country- those who kept silent could continue with their lives, but any one who moved to defend the condemned masses would die with them. They were not ignorant of what was going on, as trains loaded with Jews passed them by, yet they acted as though they were, simply because it was easier 'not to know.' What could common men and women possibly do to stop armies anyways? Some were willing to admitt their guilt in allowing such forces into power, but they considered the atrocities that had followed to be outside of their responsibility. When the pastors exhorted their congregation not to resist evil men it fit their own inclinations perfectly. No one could afford to listen to words that would bring conviction, not in times such as these. There was enough to be done already just to keep their families safe and fed without taking on other people's problems. So they justified themselves by the fact that they were to love their enemies, and they dampened their guilt by reminding themselves that God had said to be at peace with all men. 

Was their justification consistent with the scriptures? Were they still representing the Name by which they called themselves? Could they truly be Christians while being passive to the desperate cries for help - or were they only fooling themselves? The answers to these questions is of the utmost importance to us because we are guilty of the same negligence and live with a similar indifference in our hearts. Though our stomachs may have turned to see the Jews despair of hope outside the doors of a church and we felt enraged by the lack of sympathy this story revealed - we too stand guilty. The sin of negligence is easier to recognize from a distance. If those same Germans could see us go about daily life desensitized to the injustices of abortion, human trafficking, ISIS, or the persecuted church, I believe they would be horrified at us! 

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." - Reinhold Niebuhr

When we have no power to act in an area we can rest in the assurance that our God still can! However, He left us here to be His hands and His feet, to serve this dying world, and we must be careful to fulfill this duty to the very best of our ability. God, the judge all of us will stand before one day, knows exactly what we can and can't do. As Proverbs xxiv. 12 cautions us, "If you say, "Behold we did not know this," does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will He not repay man according to his work?" It could be that the only part you are able to play in a fight against injustice is through financially supporting another or through lifting up the cause in prayer. But how do you go about such a duty? Are you intentional to fall on your knees at every opportunity and 'remember the prisoners as if you were chained with them' (Hebrews xiii. 3) or do you just give what is required, or offer a quick prayer every now and then, because you just happen to recall the suffering of others in the midst of a busy day? 

"We need to learn to err on the side of action, because we tend to default to neglect. So many won't do anything until they hear a voice from heaven telling them precisely what to do. Why not default to action until you hear a voice from heaven telling you to wait? For example: Why not assume you should adopt kids until you hear a voice telling you not to? Wouldn't that seem biblical since God has told us that true religion is to care for the orphan and the widow." - Francis Chan, You and Me Forever 

There are multiple references in the bible about seeking justice, defending the oppressed (Isaiah i. 17), and saving those who are being led away to death (Proverbs xxiv. 11). 

So according to the bible, if anyone should have come to the help of the Jews, and the other victims of the Nazis, it should have been the Christians! Those who claimed to believe in a loving God and have access to His throne room to get help in time of need! Did not the One they called 'Lord' leave His place on high to come and rescue those who could not save themselves? He could have turned a blind eye to that need, and would have been completely justified in remaining in His glory. Yet He came in humility, choosing even to lay down His life in order to rescue the perishing. There was no denying that helping the afflicted would come at a cost to the German church, of those who did most lost possessions, family and even life. Still they were all called to follow the example of the One who had walked through suffering for the sake of others! 

“It's high time that Christians made up their minds to do something . . . What are we going to show in the way of resistance-as compared to the Communists, for instance-when all this terror is over? We will be standing empty-handed. We will have no answer when we are asked: What did you do about it? ” - Hans Scholl

When the train broke down outside of their church, the congregation might have been moved to tears at the sounds of the Jews cries but their tears did little good. When the moment of decision came their actions demonstrated indifference. 

"Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?" (James ii. 15 -16)

So rather than heeding the final, desperate pleading of conviction they chose to silence it. This decision to forget compassion was not restricted to that Sunday alone, they had been doing so on every Sunday and every day that had led up to that one. Each silent decision to do nothing aided and abetted the Nazis in their crimes. 

"Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James iv. 17)

The church in Germany did not see at that time that their compromise left their religion useless and empty but the Nazi soldiers did! There was no reason for them to waste effort trying to disband the church when they had already paralyzed it with fear. So long as it failed to inspire action, no amount of preaching or singing could pose a threat to their regime. The National Socialist Party had realized the truth in Jame's words, "faith without works is dead," unfortunately a large portion of the church had not! 

"God forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians and yet did nothing to intervene!" 

May we learn from their mistake and not continue to make the same one! 

In Christ 

quiana

Our Lives For Their Souls - When Men Willingly Become Martyrs

Ministers of the Gospel Series - Part 5 

Ecuador, January 8, 1956 - Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Rodger Youderian were killed by the Hoaurani (or Auca) people during an attempt to reach them with the message of the gospel. The five men and their families had been ministering to two of the neighboring tribal groups, when, by air, they discovered that there was a Huaorani village in close proximity to their base. Eager to share the knowledge of God's salvation with these people, the missionaries quickly launched "Operation Auca". A project that began with weeks of language studies and flights on which they made contact with the Huaorani from the air. Finally, the five men landed on a nearby beach and prepared to meet the Huaorani in person. They were attacked and killed a few hours after. In the midst of this tragic story, I want to draw your attention to a bewildering fact: All of the missionaries had guns in their possession yet they were speared to death without firing a shot to defend themselves. Why?

These men understood four things about witnessing that played a crucial part in directing the last decision they would ever make. No matter where we are in the world, or what profession we work in, all Christians share in the common mission of making the gospel message known. Therefore, we are all called to be missionaries and can all make use of the wisdom these men had! In this series, we have already learned four lessons that equip us to 'go and make disciples of all nations'. Let's re-visit all of those points once again, this time allowing the story of  "Operation Auca" to take us one step deeper in understanding what it is to share the gospel.

Revisiting Part 1 - The Missionary's Purpose and Passion

As Edward Studd discovered, Christians have been given a clear purpose to live for. Yet though we have been told to live as missionaries of the gospel many of us struggle to make that the priority of our daily lives. Jim Elliot knew that to live with purpose a person must also have passion. He prayed,

"Lord, fill preachers and preaching with power. How long dare we go on without tears; without moral passions; hatred and love? Not long, I pray, Lord Jesus, not long…"

His passion came from an understanding of all that his Lord has done on his behalf and it equipped him with a desire to see others know that gift as well. His passion for winning souls was so great that every other goal and responsibility fell secondary to it. Jesus said, "if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." (Matthew xxviii. 16 -20) Jim Elliot had arranged his priorities -God and His work being primary in his heart. That affection made him ready to be a disciple, to obey the commission his God had given him and follow in the footsteps of his Lord. 

“God, I pray thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus.” - Jim Elliot

Long before he faced the Huaorani's spears, Jim was prepared for God to use him - however He should see fit. Jim held no expectations for his life besides that he might be used in the furtherance of the gospel. For that purpose he was ready to give all - even his life.

"If we are the sheep of His pasture, remember that sheep are headed for the altar." - Jim Elliot

Revisiting Part 2 - Undeterred in the Pursuit

Fear is possibly the greatest deterrent that any missionary has to face when sharing the gospel and, like the Waldensians, these five friends were no strangers to its voice. 

Each of them would leave behind wives and small children if they were killed on this mission - a possibility that they had taken into consideration. They did not go into "Operation Auca" blindly for the tribes that they were already ministering to had suffered many casualties at the hands of the Huaorani people and called them the "Auca", meaning "savages", for good reason. In addition to this it was well known that, just ten years before, four other missionaries had been killed while trying to make contact with the Huorani. 

They could have been paralysed with fear, but these men knew how to put fear aside. "Perfect love casts out all fear..." (1 John iv. 18). Because of Christ's love for them, the team of missionaries did not need to fear death. If they died it would mean only the loss of their physical bodies, for their souls were secure for eternity. God had given them an assurance of His love and faithfulness towards them and He also gave them His love for the unsaved. Though Jim Elliot and his colleagues knew that they could die in the pursuit of these people, they were more afraid that the Huaorani would die without the knowledge of salvation.

"Greater Love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John xv. 13)

As in the story of the Waldensians, they had every excuse to give way to fear. The dangers they faced were real, but so was the love that enabled the missionaries to overcome the fear of them!

Revisiting Part 3 - A Bold and Clear Message

It may surprise you to realize that "Operation Auca" did not fail. Though the men did not live to tell the Huaorani people of the work of the cross, they died demonstrating it to them. For almost two thousand years before the martyrdom of Elliot, Saint, Flemming, McCully, and Youderian a similar story had unfolded. In which a single person allowed himself to be killed, when he had the ability to save himself. It was to this story that their own pointed.

When Jesus was hanging on the cross, slowly dying, the people mocked Him saying, "save Yourself and come down from the cross!" (Mark xv. 30) This He was perfectly able to do, for the cross was no match to the power of the God that it held. Yet He chose not to demonstrate His power by that means. He was not battling against the cross but using it as an instrument to accomplish His purpose. 

"And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you..." (Luke xxii. 19)

The cross broke the 'bread' of His body, giving it to save the souls of men - including those of the missionaries who stood on a secluded beach in Ecuador surrounded by apparent enemies. It was in following the example set by the One who had saved them, that the five men did not use the guns they held. If Jesus was going to save the souls of men He could not employ His power to save Himself, and likewise if the Huaorani people were to be saved the missionaries could not use the power they had to preserve their lives. They knew that the Huaorani weren't ready to die, so each life they took would have been a soul eternally lost. This is the realization that made the encounter, not a battle of guns verses spears but a question of the value of souls over bodies! Even when words weren't at their disposal, the men preached the gospel with boldness and clarity - demonstrating the work of salvation in action.

Revisiting Part 4 - One Part of a Greater Plan

We saw how God had sent Epimenides ahead of Paul to prepare the people of Athens to understand the message he would bring. God was writing a story in which Epimenides and Paul were simply two characters with supporting roles. God is the author and He has many characters to use in accomplishing His purposes. He uses each one perfectly in order to bring about the great end of the plot.

"...Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” (John iv. 32 -35)

A few years after their death, Jim Elliot's wife, Elisabeth, their little girl, Valerie, and Nate Saint's sister, Rachel, had the opportunity to go to the Huaorani people and teach them the gospel message. The sacrificial live of the martyrs became the illustration they used to help the Huaorani people, including the men who the missionaries had spared, to understand God's love! So the death of the missionaries was no mistake on God's part, it was simply a sacrifice that was necessary as the first step in reconciling the Huaorani to God.   

 In his journal, Jim Elliot had written,

"A man is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he can not lose."

So we see that the five men deliberately did not to use their guns - giving up their temporary lives to gain the souls of the Huaorani for all of eternity. Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete Flemming, Ed McCully and Rodger Youderian showcased the wisdom of heaven, leaving the Huaorani and all of us with a better understanding of the cost that the God of the universe paid for our souls!

"Christ came down to save us from a terrible hell, and any man who is cast down to hell from here must go in the full blaze of the gospel, and over the mangled body of the Son of God." - Dwight L. Moody

This is the message that we have been called to share - through words and through actions and though it may cost us all!

In Christ

quiana