"Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths ..." (Psalm 25:4)
In her book, "Through Gates of Splendor," Elizabeth Elliot tells the story of five young men who, compelled by the insurmountable love of Christ, offered their lives to free a savage people int he jungles of Ecuador. In January 1956, the five New Tribes missionaries ventured to share Christ witht he feared Auca Indians. All five were killed in a savage encounter, but their blood became the seed out of which God raised new children for Himself. One life at a time, the Auca Church was born and now bulges with believers whose testimonies are more dramatic than fiction.
Two of the same men who threw the deadly spears in 1956 later baptized the son of Nate Saint, one of the five martyred missionaries. In the late 1990's, the missionary's son and his family moved among the believing Aucas and continued the legacy left by five men who were "faithful unto death."
The Aucas testify to the faithfulness of Christ in ways indigenous to their culture. for generations they branded paths in the thick jungles by carving a mark on each side of the trees. Others would be able to find their way by following the carvings. Now they speak of the carvings left by Christ and His Word which mark "reliable paths." Scriptures in their language are written on boards and hung in their Churches. They utilize these Scripture carvings to teach one antoher and theri children to follow God's Word as "reliable paths."
They claim to have learned much from their once unwelcome visitors, but we have much more to learn from them. They have allowed the Gospel to radically change their lives. The practices of their people relentlessly handed down through the generations have been completely altered by the Word of God. Christ's Gospel was a full-scale intrusion into their lives, yet when they chose Him, they chose His lifestyle ... as 'unnatural' as it was. They have followed His carvings to "freedom."
Beloved, He has a reliable path for us as well. He knows exactly what He wants us to do in our present situations. The dilemma is weighing our genuine need for God's direction against our personal resistance to alteration.
The Auca's example of faith invites us to adopt the prayer of the Psalmist who also searched for the "carvings" of God to lead him in perilous journeys: "Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your paths." We can encounter God's challenge as He demands: "Will you allow Me to dramatically alter your ways to teach you My own?"
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I have heard this story since it happened. I can remember the shock that it brought over the Churches in that day and time ... in 1959. In the Sundays following more and more was accounted for. Back in those days, news traveled much more slowly than today. Our SS teacher told us about it, and we children in that SS Class were so saddened, because we had been praying for them since we first had heard they were in trouble.
A verse which I want to share that means so very much to my life when I come upon things which I don't understand, and I know that only God can and will see me through is: **Jeremiah 32:27 ... "Behold, I AM the LORD, the GOD of ALL mankind! Is there ANYTHING too hard for ME?" Absolutely Not! We just need to depend upon Him with our whole hearts ... even when things don't go the way we think that they should. ~Naomi~
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