09282024 He in Whom I Trust

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our trustworthy God. Everywhere, in everything, and at all times, God can be trusted.

“My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer: my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth people under me” (Psalm 144:2).

“He in whom I trust.” This word for trust has the idea of confiding in and fleeing to for protection. It is the word for trust in an urgent situation. When danger threatens or difficult circumstances or even emergencies arise, God is the place to which we can run.

Considering all the other names for God contained in this verse, our trust in Him is very reasonable. He is goodness. He is a fortress and a high tower. He is a shield and a deliverer. We can trust in a God who is good, who is able to hide us from attacks, and who is able to achieve the victory.

Whom else would we trust? Other people may care about us and may even have some wisdom and ability to help us, but God cares more about us than anyone else does. Furthermore, He is the only one with sufficient wisdom to know what to do, and there are many situations that are far beyond the ability of any human to do anything about. The help of others would be insufficient at best and sometimes completely powerless. God, on the other hand, is worthy of our trust.

When troubles arise, He should be the first source we turn to. He has proven Himself so many times already, and nothing has changed in His character. In problems big and small, in seasons of trial and tranquility, God is the one we can trust. He will continue to do what He has always done, which is to do everything that is good and right and best for us within His wise plan.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

09212024 His Own Victories

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God who fights – and wins – His own battles.

Victories are good. We like to win. Sometimes, however, victories are totally unexpected, and a winner emerges that we never expected to see. How does this happen? Perhaps the favorite is injured or drops out for some reason at the last minute, allowing an unexpected victor to emerge. Or two strong favorites can spend so much energy battling against each other that a third and less favored entry ends up winning. Maybe there is a collision near the finish line, in which all the leaders lose their advantage, and someone at the back of the pack wins. It is even possible that everyone else drops out of a contest, and an unexpected champion emerges by default. Some wily or wealthy people might use manipulation or money to get others to achieve the victory for them.

God needs none of these methods. He is not dependent on anyone else to achieve His victories. “O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory” (Psalm 98:1). When God wins, (referring to the point in time at which He wins, not the possibility that sometimes He does), it is His own strength and skill that achieved the victory.

In essence, this is because God has no “worthy” opponents. There is no one that can effectively challenge Him. God’s power is sufficient to win. His strategy and wisdom are unmatched. There is no “bad luck” that overthrows His plans. He doesn’t get injured. He doesn’t get distracted.

God is absolutely sufficient in Himself to win every victory. From a human standpoint, we could explain how God sometimes appears to win through secondary means. For example, the weather just happens to cooperate, or a king makes a law that supports God’s position. In actuality, this is part of the beauty of God’s victories. God has unlimited resources at His disposal, and He uses them as He wishes in order to accomplish His purposes.

The king decided. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” (Proverbs 21:1).

The weather cooperated. “Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word” (Psalm 148:8).

Someone stepped forward. “But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace” (Galatians 1:15).

It so happened. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Galatians 4:4).

So God uses kings and hailstorms, prophets and history, and so much more. But each of these are merely tools in His hand, manipulated and controlled by Him, in order to accomplish exactly what He wishes. Rather than weakening the impact of God’s victories, these externals merely reveal how completely unstoppable God really is.

Is there a battle ahead of you? Does it seem difficult or even impossible? Then trust in the One who fights and wins His own battles. He is strong enough.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

09152024 Favor of God

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God of strength. Our strength is oftentimes so little, but His is infinite. What we cannot dream of being able to do, God accomplishes with ease.

Moses understood this. He begins Psalm 90 by acknowledging God’s everlasting existence. He compares this with the frail brevity of man. The final five verses are packed with petitions based on the human/divine contrast.

V. 13 – “Return” and “let it repent thee.” Moses asks God to renew His attention to His children. Was this written when Moses was a shepherd in the wilderness? Or more likely, after Moses had reached the “eighty years” that he had recently referred to? If so, this would be during the wilderness wanderings. Perhaps Moses is calling for a reprieve from the extra decades of wandering. In essence, he is asking for God to take away the punishment and again show His favor.

V. 14 – “Satisfy.” Moses asks God show His mercy (lovingkindness) in such an abundant way that the people would again have joy and gladness, perhaps even bursting forth in song. I don’t think there was much of that during those forty years of desert, deprivation, and death. What a blessed change for singing to return!

V. 15 – “Make us glad.” Moses asks God to trade the years of suffering for years of blessing. In Egypt, that suffering had been in terms of centuries. In the wilderness, it was in terms of decades. So much suffering. Oh, to have it now be replaced with gladness. What the anticipated glories were of the land of milk and honey.

V. 16 – “Let thy work appear.” I think both the 400 years in Egypt and the 40 in the wilderness were largely years of divine silence. The people did not see great displays by God during those times. The new generations had only stories they had heard, but not first-hand observations. Moses requests a renewal or a reintroduction of obvious divine activity to be displayed toward Israel. He wanted God to give new first-hand experiences.

V. 17 – “Let the beauty (favor)” and “establish (confirm) thou the work.” Now Moses is asking for divine blessing to facilitate and legitimize the people’s labors as they move forward. The full verse is a clear recognition that, as hard as the people work, they will not be successful unless God gives His stamp of approval. “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” The request for God to confirm the work they will do is repeated.

Man sometimes has ideas and ambitions about what to do. Assuming that the ideas and ambitions are actually guidance and direction from God, man still cannot accomplish the objectives unless God blesses the work. Man’s best strength is too weak and his best wisdom is too foolish. This is particularly true when the objectives are within the realm of the supernatural. God is doing a divine work in the world, and He must enable and establish the part of that work that He intends to be done through human instruments.

You are involved in that divine work and those eternal objectives. God has designed it. God has placed you into it. But you can’t do it in your own strength and wisdom. God’s work uses human fuel, but human fuel is insufficient. So my prayer for you is this: “Father, establish the work of their hands. Take their earnest and sacrificial labors for You, and put Your stamp of approval on them. Put Your power and wisdom into them. Bring the work to fruition. Establish it so that it yields success.”

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

Archived letters: www.dearmissionarylady.blogspot.com.

09072024 Mosquitoes

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the Creator God. God created everything in the natural world, right? He has a reason for all of His creation, right? So why did God make mosquitoes?

I don’t know why I was thinking about this recently. Most likely either because a mosquito bit me or because one was buzzing around my head. Now, there are a lot of nuisances in creation: snakes, spiders, locusts, gnats, MOSQUITOES! I suppose we would have a hard time coming up with ways those things are good or beneficial. Probably there are scientific and environmental reasons of which I am unaware, at least for some of these critters. But could there possibly be anything good in mosquitoes?

Consider these questions. What if every human being was created with an eternal soul that will live somewhere forever? What if there were only two options – a perfect, blissful heaven and a torturous, flaming hell? What if the only way to arrive in heaven instead of hell was by putting your full confidence in God, who alone can save you from your damning sin?

What if your life was all pleasantness and perfection? Would you have any reason to seek such a God? Would you be impelled to look for anything beyond your current existence? Would you even believe that there could be an eternal place of punishment that really could be all that bad?

What if you were so blessed that you really had no pressing needs? What if your health was so perfect that you had no fear of illness and no impending reality of death? What if there were no threats to your longevity? Would you even think about death or eternity?

That brings me back to mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are the deadliest creature on earth. It is believed that they kill at least three-quarters of a million people (maybe as many as 2 million) every year, through diseases like malaria, Zika virus, yellow fever, dengue, and West Nile virus.

Mosquitoes thrive world-wide, and they are no respecter of persons. In the USA, we are fairly safe from these dangerous illnesses, but did you know that seven US presidents had malaria at some time in their lives? In spite of medical and environmental advances, half the world’s population still lives at high risk for mosquito-borne diseases, and without the treatment advantages available in the US.

Consider the ramifications individually. Especially for people living in vulnerable areas, the fear of mosquito-borne illnesses is a reminder of man’s mortality. What if I get West Nile virus? I’m too poor to afford care. Both my grandparents died from malaria. Am I next? I’ve had dengue so many times that if I get it again, I will probably die. The mosquitoes are especially bad this year. There is too much risk, and I am not ready to die.

Consider the ramifications regionally. What if you lived in a country caught up in the midst of an outbreak of one of these diseases? It seems every family is affected. Everyone knows of someone who has died. There appears to be no way to control it and no end in sight. How many of my friends and family members will die? I’m afraid to go out. I’m afraid to get sick. I’m afraid to die.

Maybe I’m exaggerating. Maybe mosquitoes and their potential impact do not have this kind of effect on people. But I believe that they must contribute to the realization of mortality. They have to be a piece of the puzzle. There are people, and there are times, when the reality of mosquitoes leads someone closer to seeking God.

Does God really do this? Does He actually use mosquitoes to declare Himself? Consider the ten plagues in Egypt. God used infestations of frogs, gnats (lice), flies, and locusts. Why? Yes, it was in order to deliver His people. But it was also so that Egypt would know that He was God. It was to show that there was no one like Him. It was to show His power and proclaim His name throughout the earth. God repeatedly declared these purposes (Exodus 7:5,17; 8:10,22; 9:14,16,29; 10:1-2; 11:9).

Some of the Egyptians got the message. As I understand it, some of them believed, and some left Egypt with the Israelites. The message spread all the way to Canaan, and people there were also impacted. Rahab described the impact on the people of her region (Joshua 2:9-11). Rahab turned to the true God in part because of flies and locusts!

Is it cruel for God to use such harsh means to draw people to Himself? On the surface, it may seem so, but remember those paragraphs of questions at the beginning. Sometimes – perhaps, usually – people will not be drawn toward God unless there are harsh means. In that case, the harshness is actually merciful, because it ultimately rescues people from a far harsher eternity.

In the end, I am left with this question: Can I be thankful for mosquitoes? I’m not going to jump up and down with joy about them, that’s for sure. But I can have a level of sober (and amazed) appreciation for them inasmuch as I realize that they are part of the harsh means that God uses to draw some people to Himself. There are people for whom this is a piece of His strategy, as they face their fear and mortality. I can be thankful for a God who is wise enough to use even mosquitoes for His purposes.

May you see God use both usual and unusual means to reach needy people in your area of ministry. He is able!

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA