Let me speak from my frame of reference, I am a white, conservative fifty-something male; to some that means I am a toxic, nay saying, bigoted and privileged part of the problem in America today but they don’t define me. I have never been a wealthy man nor lived in abject poverty; I know what it is to struggle to get ahead but I have never done without the basics of a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food in my belly. I use vehicles like the internet and social media to share truths from the Gospel of Jesus Christ KNOWING that most people really don’t care what I or it has to say. This I do in the hopes that someone will listen and come to trust in the God not only of the Bible but of the Universe and in the Son who He sent – Jesus Christ the righteous; who died to give life to spiritually dead men by satisfying the equally righteous requirement of God concerning our sins.
I mention my background because I know what it is like to pull myself up by my bootstraps in making a bad situation better and while I have NEVER experienced the poverty that some people in our nation and town have – NONE OF US have EVER experienced the kind of squalor that exists in some of the poorer nations of the world today. But we have brothers and sisters in Christ in those places – most of them equal in their poverty, some of them, despite their poverty serving others in Jesus’ name.
One of them, a friend of mine, Dr. Joseph Samuel serves as an indigenous missionary in India. He is NOT funded by the IMB (International Mission Board) nor any of the other well-known sending institutions but he is no less on the mission field in Jesus’ name. I recently had to write to him and explain that certain resources that he’d come to depend on for the ongoing work would no longer be coming. I can say that prior to writing this letter I was probably more like most people reading this post – rarely if ever giving much thought to the conditions in which missionaries serve nor to the encouragement which both our prayers and our material support bring to those serving.
Dr Samuel not only has the pressure of poverty all around him limiting the degree to which he can help others but he also faces the persecution which preaching in the name of Jesus draws in a predominantly Hindu nation. Nevertheless, in his upward age this Christian brother and those with him is making a difference. I have never been to India and can only imagine the difficulty one faces to minister there – most of us as ministers here only have to deal with the occasional complaining member or overbearing deacon; for the most part the lights are on, the A/C blows cold and everyone is comfortable in what I have come to call the “fish tank;” we face disappointments and setbacks but, if we set our minds to it, we can recover.
We have our American wherewithal – men and women like Dr. Samuel only have God.
God uses people to supply the need in India like He used the people in Philippi to supply the need of the Apostle Paul:
“Nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities.” (Philippians 4:14–16, NKJV)
During a deep time of testing, it was the prayers of the people of God which the Lord used to comfort a man (Paul) literally at the end of his rope:
“For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.” (2 Corinthians 1:8–11, NKJV)
Not being where the missionary is, not experiencing what he or she faces in the service of the Lord where ever it may be, it often becomes easy in our air-conditioned churches to turn our back on them as it suits our own purposes. We forget to pray. The instant contributing to them materially becomes challenging to us – we cut off the supply; if his trust was in men, the servant of the Lord would often be VERY disappointed.
But men like the Apostle Paul and Dr Samuel don’t trust in men, they trust in God and because they trust in God, they are able to say:
“… I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11–13, NKJV)
My friends, it is too EASY to let down on prayers and on supplying the needs of those serving the Lord in less than ideal circumstances, especially when we do not directly and mutually experience their suffering. Let us be more determined to faithfully support them who go where we won’t and suffer what we don’t…
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