To the ends of the earth…
12 Oct 2023
Jesus said, ‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…to the end of the earth.‘ (Acts 1:8).
Sometimes those places ‘at the end of the earth’ are dangerous, and Jesus may call you there someday. But risk is right for the Kingdom.
How can these unreached people, despite living in a dangerous place like a war zone, hear about Jesus’ saving grace without someone (like you and me) going to them (Rom. 10:14-15). God has promised to be with us despite the danger and risk (Matt. 28:20, Isa. 43:2).
Or perhaps the area you are serving in is peaceful and safe for now, but that could radically change in a split second. That’s what happened to us!
We initially chose to reach out in our area because there were no believers there. It was so remote and overlooked that nobody could point our sleepy town on a map.
And out of nowhere, to everybody’s surprise, a full-scale civil war broke out, with our town being notorious for intense, heavy fighting.
Now the war is an everyday part of our lives. Our daily ‘quiet times’ are met with bomb blasts that shake our house. We hear bullets whistle past our door. It’s our new normal.
It’s hard to describe the intensity of serving in a war zone. Sometimes it seems too much, but God’s sovereignty and grace have joyfully sustained us.
Sure, we have stories of God’s divine protection: missing a bomb blast by a few minutes, driving unaware yet fully protected through an active sniper shooting zone. But God has mainly shown us his grace and sovereignty through the promises of the Bible!
The risk in a mission seems foolish only if uncertain things like karma, chance or luck are in control. But we know that God is sovereign. I don’t find comfort in random stray bullets, but I can trust in God sovereignly guiding bullets into places that most glorify Him.
Of course, we still take extreme care, yet we also remember that ‘two sparrows sold for a cent. And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.’ (Matt. 10:29). If God is sovereign over the rising and falling of a single sparrow, then he will indeed care much more for us as we share the gospel for his glory among this unreached people group!
DP | A Pioneers Australia worker
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