“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” (Isaiah 7:9)
“no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent” (Psalm 91:10)
“For we live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor. 5:7)
On March first week, 2020 I am in the midst of decision making whether I should take part in two of the most important gospel movement taking place in India which falls immediately in the following weeks – one at the biggest grassroot movement on second week and another at the highest level of leadership on the last week. I had already booked my air tickets. Adding to this, the four Global conferences (in Jakarta, Seoul, Thailand and New York) I was invited to attend in the upcoming months, two were already been postponed indefinitely for 2021. Of these, one visa I already got a month’s back was rescheduled further up the months and I am in the process of finalizing another registration. With the uncertainty of travels, hoping for some certainty I prayed with my family and alone. I looked for God's voice in the friends and families. This is one of the very few moments in my life that I seek answers from elsewhere but none are so coming straight forward as to be the “voice of God”. I feel so completely blank.
Over above, my weekly meditation came upon this verse: “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God" (John 8:47).
It took me off guard. When I expect God's voice to be so audible and needed it very much, why do I not hear his voice. The “urgency of trying to hear God’s voice” became all the more crucial to me as I am to attend the above two strategic conference I mentioned above and they are within a week’s time now. Apart from the Global conferences, commitment and a call to travel for the formulation of a strategic one decade mission for Myanmar and Bangladesh are in top priority. With the busiest travel plan ahead in the year, the uncertainty of the future is so disappointing. I wish that I can open the window of the future and put my head into it and take a peek at least of some months into the future of what the world is going to be like. The human in me wanting to know the future becomes a great temptation and the limits and frailty in me reach its zenith with another powerful reminder that I am just a mere human being and relies completely on my Sovereign-Creator God for only in Him I live and move and have my being (Acts 17:28).
Time flies while I wait and seek for answer. Then on March 8 Sunday morning, our 12 years old eldest daughter - Hoiting, read out loud Psalm 91:10 in her personal morning quiet time: "No harm will overtake you; no disaster will come near you." For me it is like the word of God, ‘Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it”’ (Isaiah 30:21) coming true.
The message is loud and clear! When all my reasoning fails, I heard God's voice so clearly through my daughter (In the past God spoke to me and my wife several times through our three little children!). There is no more indecisiveness. God will protect and surround me in the midst of chaos and pestilence and I must go for a Mission Conference in North India organized by my friends. I asked my daughter to read out loud that for our family devotion that morning. We claim that promise and protection of God afresh. Psalm 91 has become our family devotional thought for that day and God’s covenant in my journey.
Then I packed my bag and in the afternoon I took a flight from Imphal and landed at Delhi at 5:40PM. (Inside the flight, God gave me a whole new message as I read throughout Psalm 91). Then three hours I waited at T-2 for two friends from Uttar Pradesh are to land at T-1. Upon their arrival, after shaking hands and the embrace (we met after 21 years of God’s amazing faithfulness in our respective ministries) we had dinner at the airport and took a cab to our destination.
Amazingly, the first voice of God I heard from the preacher that strengthens and inject energy in my spiritual-missional vein is: "In the midst of chaos, do not run or hide. Do not operate in fear but by faith. Run with horses and look for the harvest...All around the world there is an acceleration of the harvest. Things are speeding up for Jesus' coming." The following day he continues, "When the world around you is shaking in fear and chaos are all around, it is time for the harvest as the rain is coming!" This is enough and is all I needed for accelerating the good news movement in and around me.
Then I came back and reached home safely on March 12. Later we came to realize that those who return home from Delhi on the same route on March 13 had a Covid-19 case. God has truly fulfill his promise through Psalm 91 and no pestilence has come near me during this mission focused journey.
The take away message I would like us to apply from this personal testimony God has given me for our life in the context of global epidemic is this – our faith and reason must go hand in hand. We must not be off-guard in our reasoning faculty especially in such a time as this where we are living in digital age which is full of counterfeit. Not only fake news of words or messages behind the official notice but even images and live videos we saw can be deceptive and misrepresent the truth (we know it is not just images but even video of someone’s image can be deceptively manipulated to make it say something). Ravi Zacharias once talked on, “Mind Games in a World of Images”. This is exactly where we are now, the images we saw has to be verified for authenticity. The world is playing with mind games in a world of images and videos. In the past, if there is an image or a video, that’s it – the full truth. But now, in this informatics and digital age, we have to question its genuineness. We have to use our God given mental faculty to be reasonable, interpret, think and live wisely. Our reason and faith must go side by side. But one thing remains, if with all that we see and know our reasoning faculty fails to reason and walk with faith, we must act and live by faith. And this faith must not be a doubting faith but a spirit led faith. And if we not rely on feeling and sight but move by faith, God will honor us. Still there is something in this moving by faith; we must be ready and willing to pay the price. Remember Daniel 3:16-20, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” In such a time as this, if we use only our reason, we will drown in the oceans of fear, confusion and depression. Courageous faith with spirit led life, like the three warriors of faith of old, will help us navigate these chaotic and uncertain times. And ultimately it is up to God to intervene in a very powerful way by our walks of faith or let us die in our obedience like Jim Elliot and his four friends amongst the Aucas. But every walk of faith demands complete obedience and trust in God’s sovereignty, faithfulness and love. After all, a Christian life without a walk of faith will not please God. May the Spirit of God help us to rise up to the occasion to walk courageously with faith and reason. And sometimes, this walk of faith will demand us to live the day or move on without any application of reason – but holding unto the revealed Word of God - for God’s glory and honor in our lives even in such a time as this! May God bless us to live and move on in faith!
[This testimony, a call to live by faith, does not imply that we can be careless and fanatic about our faith that we become a threat to the health and well-being of our family and the community we live in but only be very clear to move forward in faith if we are call for that. If the faith is genuine, strictly speaking, God will not put you and His name to shame. - Writer]
