10292022 Treasure

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God of true riches. He has riches infinitely beyond human comprehension, and He allows us to partake of those riches.

Lately I have been interested in the story of a treasure hunt in Nova Scotia. For hundreds of years, men have sought this treasure, often giving large portions of their lives in its pursuit. Some have died in the attempt. Even when they have thought they knew the precise location of the treasure, various obstacles have prevented them from reaching it. Apparently none have had success. In truth, there are so many theories about the treasure that they don’t even know what they are looking for.

This story prompted my thoughts in various ways. I am glad that there are no mysteries with God. There is nothing hidden from Him. He has all wisdom and all knowledge. There is no puzzle that He cannot solve. “Of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2-3). “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).

God has all might. He accomplishes everything that He intends to accomplish. No obstacle is greater than He is. No opposition can stand before Him. “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places” (Psalm 135:6). “I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought [nothing You have thought to do?] can be withholden from thee” (Job 42:2).

There is no situation, challenge, or danger that will take God’s life. There is nothing to be worked out that will prove impossible to achieve within God’s lifetime. He will never have to pass the responsibility on to someone else. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Psalm 90:2). “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

God’s treasure is so much more enduring than man’s treasure. In this human treasure hunt, there has been evidence of damage through breakage and through corrosion. Even if men eventually find this treasure, it will soon be lost, stolen, spent, or passed on to a younger generation. God’s treasure doesn’t damage. It endures. “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (I Peter 1:4). “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (II Corinthians 5:1).

God’s endeavors have purpose. When God starts something, He will finish it. There is no futile, year-after-year or century-after-century, pursuit that keeps turning up empty. There are sometimes lengthy and extended workings, but they end in success. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished” (Luke 18:31).

God teaches us to lay up treasures that really matter. This requires investment. What a sad thought that men will spend decades of their lives and possibly millions of dollars in investment to try to find a corruptible treasure (that they may never find). Their effort and investment are wasted. God’s treasure is so much different. Yes, it requires a great investment of time, energy, and resources. It demands an entire lifetime. It demands our heart and our soul. We must give our all. But the returns! When we invest in God’s “treasure hunt,” there will be great rewards. We also might labor for years without seeing many rewards, but they are being laid up for us in incredible fashion. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).

Thank you for choosing to invest in the right kind of treasure. May God bless that investment this week by adding to your eternal treasure. And may He give you strength and wisdom for the pursuit.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

10222022 Stable in Disaster

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our reliable God. No matter what else happens, we can always trust Him.

Habakkuk describes a time of disaster in which everything falls apart and all resources disappear. “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls” (Habakkuk 3:17).

Even in a situation so dire, Habakkuk pledges to joyfully follow God. “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (3:18). Even then?! Isn’t that the time when people are tempted to forget about God? Why continue with such resolve when everything has fallen apart?

I think of at least three reasons. First, God has proven His faithfulness over the years. Hasn’t He? How many times in the past have we found ourselves in situations that have seemed just as hopeless and just as devoid of resources? Didn’t God carry us through then? Hasn’t He done so time and again? God is the one who is actually able and committed to help in the current time of distress, so there is no reason to neglect Him now.

Second, everything is part of God’s great plan. His great plan has a great end, even when the middle of the path is yucky. If we walk away in the midst of the yuckiness, we will never see the end. How much better to stay the course, in faith waiting for the great answer that He will give.

Third, when times are tough, no one cares like God cares. What a tragedy it would be to turn from the best Friend we have, or even to give Him the cold shoulder and draw back from Him. He is the one who can help us! He is the one who cares enough to remain with us and to show His love. Without Him, we would be in the same yucky situation, but without the help we need.

While not stating things in exactly those words, Habakkuk seems to grasp the three concepts. “The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places” (3:19).

“The LORD God is my strength.” God has been faithful to strengthen Habakkuk historically. “He will make to walk upon mine high places.” Doesn’t that sound like a great end that is yet to come? “He will make my feet like hinds’ feet.” God cares enough to equip Habakkuk for what he must face.

Surely there are other good reasons to continue following God and embracing the path He has placed before us, but these three are some pretty strong anchors. A faithful past, a hopeful future, and a compassionate present.

May God give you grace and strength this week to continue on, in spite of whatever resources or comforts might be missing. Here is the fourth stanza of the hymn I shared last week. “Though vine nor fig tree neither/ Their wonted fruit shall bear;/ Though all the fields should wither/ Nor flocks nor herds be there;/ Yet God the same abiding,/ His praise shall tune my voice,/ For, while in Him confiding,/ I cannot but rejoice.” God the same abiding – that’s an anchor!

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

10152022 Divine Silence

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our faithful and ever-present God. No matter what our perceptions or doubts, God is always with us. We humans have short memories, and we require constant reassurances. Think of what happens naturally with us when we don’t hear those kinds of words. Wives can become despondent and insecure if their husbands don’t state their love. Children grow into adults with social foibles and “disorders” when their fathers don’t state their love. Church members (and perhaps missionaries?) become alienated or discouraged when no one tells them that they are remembered, loved, and prayed for. If we don’t hear reassuring words repeated often enough, we have a tendency to forget that they are true.

If the pain and discouragement happen regarding other people’s communication (or lack thereof), might they not also happen regarding God’s communication? What happens in our spirits when we go through a time of divine silence? I have heard the words “When God is silent,” and I briefly searched the internet to see if this is a song, a book, a sermon, etc. Well, I don’t know the source of those words in my history, but they are very common – books and sermons by multiple authors. In other words, it is a common theme that man has explored. No one wants to feel that he has lost the attention of God. David expressed: “Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit” (Psalm 28:1).

Job expressed words of perceived alienation from God. “Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment” (Job 19:7). “Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!” (Job 23:3). Both of these chapters are filled with similar sentiments. Job’s impression was that God was not listening and not responding. He could not find God in his situation.

Think about Joseph. As a young man, he received divinely-sent dreams that revealed to him a wonderful future. Then a series of bad things happened. How long was it until Joseph again had divine revelation? How long did he wait before God’s blessings and fulfillment broke out upon him? Did those years of slavery and imprisonment stretch out in interminable silence?

What about Esther? God is not even mentioned in the book of Esther. Here is a young lady, orphaned and carried from her homeland. She is thrust into an unusual position of importance, but her life is nevertheless in danger. Doubly so – as one of the condemned Jews and as someone who must approach the king without an invitation. She had only the instructions of her uncle. Where was the divine instruction or reassurance? Where was the “Thus saith the LORD?” Without a message from God, she knew that she might perish.

Or the Jews in general? Between the Old and New Testaments, there was a void of 400 years. As far as we know, there were no prophets, no revelations, no new guidance. Just silence. How many times throughout history, as they have faced persecutions and attempted annihilation, must the Jews have wondered, Where is God? How often did they cry out those words in the Nazi concentration camps?

Like these times of silence existed for these ones in the past, sometimes we also face deep personal times of seeming silence. Our hearts cry out with the same questions. Where is God? Why doesn’t He answer me? Why does my communication with Him seem so challenged? Why do I feel like I’m not getting through to Him? Why does it seem that He is not touching my heart?

In times of silence, we must remember that although God might not be talking, He is acting. Through those excruciating months of Job’s life, God was silent, but He was not inactive. God was overseeing. God was reining Satan in. God was giving inspiration to Elihu. God was preparing His own speech. God was planning Job’s healing, restoration, comfort, and renewed blessing.

Joseph might not have been receiving new dreams, but God was working. He was overseeing global weather patterns to create a massive famine. He was working in the hearts of Joseph’s father and brothers. He was putting public servants in disgrace with the pharaoh. He was giving dreams to other people and allowing Joseph to interpret.

Esther heard no divine voice, but God was at work. He was weighting dice so that they rolled to the most advantageous numbers. He was curtailing (and eventually reversing) the plans of wicked Hamaan. He was giving Esther extraordinary favor. He was giving a king insomnia and placing the right reading material on the top of the stack, opened to the right page.

The Jews waited in silence, but God was working. He was overseeing international politics to create just the right setting in which His Son would be born. He was causing leaders to make unwelcome taxations with inconvenient ramifications. He was blessing an old, infertile couple with a son who would serve as a precursor to His greatest message. When the Jews were suffering intensely in the 1940s, apparently abandoned by God and the world, God was at work. He raised up those “righteous among the nations” who intervened on the Jews’ behalf. He directed world powers to move toward restoration of a Jewish homeland. He used unpleasant circumstances to make Jews welcome and flock to that homeland.

Not only is God always working, but in reality, He is never silent, because He speaks every time we open His Word. God gave us the Bible so that His words would always be available to us. All we have to do is read them and remember them. Our feelings of discouragement and abandonment might be strong, but feelings never change facts. Ron Hamilton’s song “Trust His Word” says something like this: “Trust His Word. All God’s promises are true. Trust His Word. When your pathway disappears and your joy gives way to tears, in the midst of doubts and fears, trust His Word.”

What does His Word say that is always true, regardless of our tears, doubts, and fears? What is God’s truth to us when we hear no voice and see no path? “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). “For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee” (Isaiah 43:2). In the midst of Job’s chapter 19 anguish, he anchors himself with verses 25-26, and in chapter 23, he clings to verse 10.

Where is God? He is right here with me, whether I feel it or not. Why doesn’t He hear my prayers? He is hearing and is appropriately answering, whether I see it or not. Why isn’t He doing anything? He is “hard” at work, planning and preparing even though I do not see it yet. Why does my spirit seem dry, like I’m not communing with God? “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” is true, whether I feel a warmth in my spirit or not.

As we believe God is working during the silence, and as we seek to hear His timeless and constant words through the pages of Scripture, and as we accept in faith what we do not feel in our spirt, God will again minister to us. We might have to wait for that special time, but William Cowper captured great and precious truth, when he wrote his hymn “Sometimes a Light Surprises.” “Sometimes a light surprises/ The Christian while he sings;/ It is the Lord who rises/ With healing in His wings;/ When comforts are declining,/ He grants the soul again/ A season of clear shining,/ To cheer it after rain.”

If you get a chance, look up the full text of that hymn. I apologize that this letter is so lengthy, but it is the message that God gave me, and I trust it will be a special blessing to someone. In particular, if you are in a silent spell, I pray that God will grant you that “season of clear shining” by ministering to your heart in a special way. God bless.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

10082022 Trauma

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the Great Physician. He does heal physical ailments, of course, but today I’m thinking more of the injuries to the soul. In a recent church service, we had a missions director talk about the trauma that many missionaries face over the course of their service. This can come from specific outstanding incidents of danger or injury, from an accumulation of “lesser” incidents, and even from the prolonged peculiarities of being in a foreign setting. In all of this, the historic sources of spiritual and emotional support are often far removed geographically, and often missionaries’ positions limit with whom they can safely share.

My first-hand knowledge of this is limited. As a single lady, I remember feeling intensely alone during my term in Mexico, and that was probably the toughest injury that I had to recover from. I remember uncomfortable things, like the nervousness regarding border crossings or military/police checkpoints. I remember the awkward pressure of numerous marriage proposals from men who didn’t understand why I wouldn’t jump at the opportunity. As far as actual incidents, probably the most extreme that I faced was having my wallet stolen, potentially impacting my ability to remain in-country, and being in the police station until nearly midnight while the police went to the guilty man’s house and recovered my wallet. Nothing like civil unrest, riots, threats of war, national disasters, or acts of violence. No health threats that I knew would have had a better outcome back in the States. No major life events that I had to face alone. Nothing life-threatening. Nothing that threatened to destroy a ministry I had worked to establish. Nothing that put my family at risk.

Some of you have faced those kinds of things. Some more than once. Others have faced the kinds of things I faced, but for a much longer time frame. Others have been relatively protected and blessed, but still understand the pressure of being long-term in a setting that is unfamiliar or unnatural. If you feel like you don’t know what I’m talking about, thank God for that.

I’m not just trying to paint a bleak picture of missions, and I’m not trying to be overly negative nor to project a reality where it does not apply. But I do want to acknowledge the potential reality where it does apply. I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers for such difficulties and injuries, but if you will permit me, I would like to suggest a few solutions that come to mind, in no particular order.

Counsel. When godly and biblical counsel is available, it can be a wonderful resource. Sometimes it helps to have an objective outsider, and sometimes it is necessary to have someone with some appropriate training. Desiring counsel and finding it can be two different things, however, especially in a foreign country. MissAssist (www.missassist.org) does this type of ministry especially for missionaries. Jim Berg’s www.quietinganoisysoul.com might also be a helpful starting point.

Time. With most pain, things will become less intense with time. This doesn’t give help in the present, except that it provides some hope of healing. We can all think of intense pain that happened in the past that now hardly ever crosses our mind anymore. God can do that this time, too.

The Bible. God’s Word is a wonderful source of comfort. God’s truth can soothe and heal. I have heard preachers and counselors refer to Christians who are facing intense struggles, and they have said that what these people often need is “massive doses of Scripture.” Sadly, sometimes our tendency is to neglect or minimize our time in the Word when our spirits are in such pain, when what we need is extra time. In addition to being a wonderful source of comfort, the Bible is also a wonderful source of instruction. Through its doctrine and exhortation and even through its stories, the Bible often gives us just what we need to get through and to learn what we need to learn.

Prayer. How many of the psalms are filled with the anguished cries of broken hearts? These men called out to God and found hope and healing and peace. There is something vitally important in pouring it all out to God, in inviting Him into our deepest hurts, in begging for His help, in expressing submission to His plan. We all know that there is common prayer (the kind that we pray publicly or without deep thought) and then there is real heart-level prayer (when we hold nothing back, when it is simply raw and unfiltered and coming from the depth of our soul). This kind of prayer is necessary when the soul is injured.

Love. The answer to trauma is not the same for everyone, but I find that much of what I crave during intense difficulty is simply love. I just want to know that someone cares, and then have them tell me so. I’ve also learned that you can’t make people love you, and it doesn’t even work very well to ask people to love you. Meaningful love is voluntary and spontaneous. But when there is a source of love available, I think that it helps to soak in as much of that healing love as possible, not to push it away because of our own conflicted feelings. Pretty much my main purpose in writing this letter, and in writing these letters each week, is to let you know that I love you and am thinking about you and praying for you. I want you to know you are not forgotten and that you are special. If you are doing fine, I am thankful for that. If you happen to be struggling, please know that my heart cares, and I pray that something in this letter will help you.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

10012022 Remote Places

Dear Missionary Lady,

“By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea” (Psalm 65:5).

The God of our salvation will save us. He will answer us, sometimes in awesome acts that put fear into man. Thus, the same act that pulls the wicked up short can marvelously deliver God’s children.

What I most love about this verse is the extent of those who can trust God. God can be confidently trusted even by those who are at the ends of the earth or the remotest part of the sea.

Sometimes people groups have referred to “the white man’s God”; they have viewed Christianity as being exclusively European or American. But Africans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, indigenous groups? While some might not readily accept the truth, God wants to be the God of all.

When people of any tribe or nation put their trust in God, He becomes the God of their salvation. They can have confidence in Him, regardless of where they live. There are literal ends of the earth (the Tibetan Plateau, Patagonia, Siberia, The Sahara Desert) and far reaches of the sea (Easter Island, Pitcairn Island, Tristan da Cunha, the Faroe Islands). God can be trusted by all who live in those remote areas.

There are figurative ends of the earth. The end of the earth would be a place of isolation and solitude, abandoned by others. It would be devoid of resources. It might be a time of trial or abandonment. It might be a situation that others don’t understand. It might be a time of great loss and reversal. But even if there are no human supporters and no earthly resources, God can be trusted.

Those in difficult trials often feel like they are in the midst of a vicious storm, floating somewhere in the distant ocean. They are pelted by the rain. They can’t touch bottom. They see no friendly islands on which to land. God can be trusted there also.

There is nowhere, whether actual or imagined, that God is not with His children. That He is not able to meet their needs, comfort them, support them. That He is not able to rescue and deliver.

So whatever form the isolation takes, God can be our confidence. He can be trusted, and He can deliver. May He be near and dear to you in whatever place or manner that you may find yourself alone.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA