01222022 John Paton

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God with all knowledge. Do we have any idea how many times “intelligent” men have had the answers, except that they were wrong and God was right? How many times has it happened personally, that we thought we knew something, but God had far better knowledge than we did?

I just finished an autobiography of John Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides Islands. (The Story of John G. Paton, or Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals, which I found free on Kindle).

There was an incident that touched my heart. Paton was laboring on the island of Aniwa, which had no fresh water and little rainfall apart from hurricanes. The people satiated their thirst with coconuts and sugar cane, but Paton thought he might be able to dig a well. This was a concept completely unknown to the islanders and ludicrous to them. After all, rain always came from the sky, never from the ground.

Paton was successful in digging a well that produced water so nearly fresh that it was quite potable. The people were amazed, and this became the decisive factor in the salvation of his first convert on the island, a chief of one of the villages. After the well produced water, the chief asked Paton if he could speak the next Sunday.

He shared, “Since Missi came here, he has talked many strange things we could not understand – things all too wonderful; and we said regarding many of them that they must be lies. White people might believe such nonsense, but we said that the black fellow knew better than to receive it.” He declared the absolute strangest to be the idea of going down into the ground to get rain. Although the natives laughed at Paton and thought him mad, he did indeed get water from the ground.

The chief continued, “We have laughed at other things which the Missi told us, because we could not see them. But from this day I believe that all he tells us about his Jehovah God is true. … Something here in my heart tells me that the Jehovah God does exist, the Invisible One, whom we never heard of nor saw till the Missi brought Him to our knowledge.”

As he urged the other natives to abandon their idols and follow God, the chief concluded, “This is what the Missi has been telling us every day since he landed on Aniwa. We laughed at him, but now we believe him. The Jehovah God has sent us rain from the earth. Why should He not also send us His Son from Heaven? Namakei stands up for Jehovah!” This was the beginning of a great harvest of souls on that island.

Two conclusions: first, continue faithfully ministering to those around you. Indeed, there are some for whom what you are telling them from the Bible is unknown and strange. It does not seem possible or believable to them. But God can use the truth of His Word, perhaps illuminated through other events and conversations, to break through even the darkest hearts. We cannot force comprehension, but God can help even confused and deceived people to finally understand His truth. May He achieve this breakthrough for some this week with whom you have labored long.

Second, let us be sensitive to our own limitations in comprehension. Thank God for all that He has taught us and shown us. But I know that there are many things in God’s Word that I have not fully grasped. There are things God does that do not make sense to me. That doesn’t mean God is wrong. His knowledge is so vast and so superior to what I know, and I need Him to continue to illumine and teach me.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Psalm 119:18).

By the way, some of you have encouraged me regarding publishing some of my writings. I don’t intend this to be self-serving, but you might be interested to know that I just released the series that I had shared with you from Job. (Lessons from Job for Times of Trouble, which you can find on Amazon by searching with both the book title and my name.) I’m glad that I was able to share it with you first, but if you had a desire to share the whole thing with others, now you can.

May God bless and strengthen you this week as you continue your labor for Him, and may He bring a harvest.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA