Imagine being an angel created on day 1 of the Genesis account. What would you think? One minute you don't exist, but the next minute you are falling on your knees before a Most Holy God. The only thing that has been created thus far has been the angels and other than that...nothing! Everything is pitch black because there is no universe, yet even so, your very first sight is the brightest Star of all!
You see God in Supreme Brilliance and out of an outburst from your inner most being you shout, "GLORY TO YOU, O GOD, FOR YOU ALONE ARE WORTHY OF ALL OF MY PRAISE!!"
I believe the very first thing God created were the angels. They were made on day 1 of creation before there was even a hint of universe in sight. There was a purpose in doing this, you see, because God wanted them to marvel at His majesty! He wanted them to praise Him for His mighty works! He desired to show them His strong hand...and thus it was so...and it was very good!
Again, imagine with me that you are this angel. It is the beginning of the third day of the creation week and you have already witnessed God unravel the universe out of a scroll that did not exist. You watched Him spin the galaxies into motion and set the darkened chaotic watered down earth on its path following an orbit around nothing (for at this time the sun was not there).
You have no clue what is going on and yet you worship Him!
But what is God doing? Now He begins to take this wreck of a planet, which is the unlikeliest of all, and He begins beautifying it.
If there is anything that I have learned over the time that I have spent knowing the Lord, it is this: God longs for the opportunity to magnify His grace by taking the least likely and the chaotic mess and completely transforming it into a beautiful masterpiece.
Therefore, if you were this angel, and on the third day God commanded that the earth would sprout forth vegetation, and before anything green came up, would you be the one to go up to God and tell Him that this is impractical? After you have seen the wonder of the Most High God, would you tell Him that what He is commanding is too much? Would you dare limit God in this instance?
I am sure most, if not all of us, would quickly say no. However, it is sad that many of us do this on a daily basis. We limit Him in our lives and discourage others from experiencing the fullness of God because self-consciously we don't believe that He is truly Incredible. We don't understand that God is limitless, therefore, for some obscure reason we put a limit on Him.
I experienced challenges such as these for two years already and it hasn't stopped. As many of you may know, I have a desire to go into a tribal location with zero access to the gospel and I am trusting that God will use me to be an effective Bible translator for New Tribes Mission. God has placed on my heart a conviction to give these people everything that I have.
I also find myself longing to speak with missionaries who have gone before because I hope that we will be mutually encouraged by each other's willingness to serve overseas. However, I must confess that out of all of the missionaries that I have spoken to and told this dream that I have of translating God's Word into a language unreached, well over half of them and many of my friends have said nay to this goal. The thumbs down has been given.
Has this ever happened to you?
Do you have a call on your life from God in order to accomplish a specific purpose? Our Lord and Savior sure did as He says in John 17:4 "I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do." God has given each one of us a task to do and by accomplishing it we bring glory to the Father.
Why is it that so often we limit this task? What if God actually gave us a pretty big task? I would say that our Lord's task on earth was pretty huge! I heard a quote one time that goes very well with this passage and the basic premise is that God doesn't give us tasks lesser than or equal to our strength, but He gives us the grace to accomplish the task according to His will.
A big part of the reason why Caitlin and I are headed for the Missionary Training Center this coming Fall semester is because we want to be highly equipped for the work of service into this holy calling that is placed on our lives. This is not a joke, therefore, we will not treat it as one. We are using common sense and right judgment by training for these next three years before we head off.
I have been told that translating sixty-six books (which aren't really that big) would be impractical. Someone has even told me that it would pretty much be a waste of time because if you finish the New Testament, then you should move on to a different tribe. How can somebody who claims to know God say these things? I tell you they don't know the power of my GOD!!
My goal is not to be satisfied with just a short portion of the Scriptures because my goal is not to make a bunch of converts. The desire of my heart is to make disciples. You cannot build a luxurious house without having all of the tools necessary...thus disciples, yes can be made on a small portion, but if one worker (the American believer) has the nails and the hammer, then the other worker (the tribal believer) will never have the possibility to be as effective as the first if you only give him the nails.
I thank God for men and women such as Ron and Carrie Lindsey who stood up for me when I was told those discouraging words.
As of now there are only a little over 500 complete Bible's in the world from beginning to end. I praise God for men and women who are willing to respond in faith to the calling that God has placed on their life to go into an unreached people group, but I praise God even more for those who remain until the work is finished.
I have a joyous hurt when I read the list and find that there are over 2,000 languages now that have the New Testament. I am joyful because God has reached in. I am hurting because man won't grab hold. In my spirit I am ashamed to tell you right now that those so called "reached" tribes that have the New Testament and portions of the Old Testament are sadly forgotten now.
I fear that so often we treat these people as numbers. Why do I say they have been forgotten when many of them have a well established church? They have been forgotten because the job is not finished. Oh how I pray that God will raise up workers who will stick it out until the end.
I am writing to you who have been discouraged by fellow believer's. Stay the course and remain on. Continue in the faith and if God has called you to do something that is impossible and that somebody else can't, then don't ever let them discourage you. This is not a work for your siblings in the faith to decide what you can and cannot do! This is a work given only by your Father in Heaven!
Do not ever believe a man who says that God can't do it. Believe the God who masters the impossible! For if a man, even a missionary, is unwilling to believe, then doors will be closed to them and God will not work fluently in their ministry. However, if you believe God, then He will show you things you cannot even imagine! Persevere...even when Christian's say no because God is saying YES!!
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