01/14/2019
There isn't a missionary or a vocational Christian worker that I know who hasn't been given the warm assurance "If the Lord has called you, he will supply". But in as much as that assurance is by every means true, I couldn't come up short of twenty if asked to mention missionaries who experience lack one way or another. Matter of fact I've had seasons of ministry where I could top that list. I've heard with deep sorrow of missionary families going hungry because they chose to feed the souls of others who'd never hear about Jesus any other way. And I've listened quite painfully to a friend narrate how he couldn't afford to be treated at a fee of Kshs 1000 and had to go back home and trust God for healing!
Of course Christ in his faithfulness works out everything - even such gut wrenching lack - for the good of those who love him. And these laborers have sure loved him enough to despise comfort, riches, fame, and even life itself. You'd be shocked at the joy with which they've embraced the things they suffer if you sat and heard them. Even with hungry bellies they still shower God with praise as provider. Often their lack has only prompted a deeper trust in God. And they are not new to miraculous provision. For some that's the norm. They know better than you and I how God faithfully provides for those he calls. But they've also seen first hand just what misery our assurance "he will provide" can bring when never backed with "and I'll gladly be his instrument to provide".
Missionaries don't go hungry, or struggle to educate their children, because God has failed to provide. They do because other believers privileged with the opportunity to join the cause by supporting them choose not to give. The Church's frontline soldiers only hurt because the rest of the army has avoided the war. They don't just endure persecution from those opposed to the Gospel they are trying to evangelize. Often they are first persecuted by the church when indifference is shown towards their calling. Believers have yet to awaken to the reality that though it is true the Lord will supply for those he has called, it is also true that he supplies through the many who are called by his name; his children. If you promise a laborer in God's vineyard that he who called him/her will supply and never give of your resources for their needs to be met, James calls your faith dead - James 2:17.
I often wonder what would be of the world if Jesus's disciples responded to his commission to preach the Gospel to all nations nonchalantly. If they said "If God desires to see the world evangelized, he will do it", and took sideline seats, folding their hands instead of rolling up their sleeves. Chances are you and I would never hear and respond to the Good News. We believe only because someone obeyed and came to us. We have faith because God worked through men. Similarly, the needs of such gallant soldiers will be supplied only if we allow God to work through us. No doubt the battle is the Lord's. The soldiers however, never forget, will always be men! You, me, and the guy on the frontline.
If all whom I've ever approached and asked to support our ministry only assured me of God's faithfulness to supply and never gave, I would hardly be feeding my family today. We'd probably be stuck neck deep in debt. Perhaps I would have long quitted ministry work already. But we have been well supplied, even though not perfectly sometimes, thanks to the many who've gladly become God's hands stretched out to us in answer to our every need. Many who month after month part with 200, and 500, and 1000, and 1500, and 2000, and 3000, and 5000 shillings so our needs can be met as we labor in the harvest field. I am ever thankful for them. And I hope a laborer somewhere will be thankful someday - guess for who? - for you. Like the harvest that is plentiful with only a few laborers to harvest, the needs of missionraies/Christian workers are plentiful and the givers to those only a handful.
The simple backgrounds of many missionaries is a true testament to the truth that God does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called. Few have illustrious educational backgrounds. Few enjoy fame of any kind. Many have pasts marred with sin and can only best be described as people who love the Lord and are acquainted with sorrows like the Lord they love. My prayer is that your present simple financial state as a believer - unemployed maybe, or paid so little, or burdened with dependants - will embody the truth that it is not necessarily the rich who give, but the ones who give who are made rich (sometimes materially, but most certainly spiritually). Your little gift counts.
