Just how big is your God? Is He bigger than the stockmarket? Is He bigger than your company? Is He bigger than your illness? Is He bigger than your church? Is He bigger than Osama? bigger than Obama? Someimes our problems, enemies and even our heroes loom so large we lose perspective.
As Northamerican missionaries working in a developing country, we daily encounter problems that seem insurmountable. Often the people we are working with feel the same way.
One community where we work often only gets running water a few times a week and the people living there have learned to adapt to a situation that would cause most North Americans to tear their hair out. Not long ago, the water plant that supplies the community broke down and was off line for weeks, supposedly waiting for parts. As some wealthy people in this area have wells, they made their hoses available to the community. Our church members and others spent their time and energy hauling buckets of water up to half a mile back to their homes to meet their daily needs. The also collect rain water from their roofs. Needless to say that this took all their time and energy. The situation became desperate and we prayed with the believers that water would be restored. One day, we came to hold Bible study and found no one had shown up. We visited the nearest house and found two women out back washing clothes. After greeting us, they said, "Please forgive us, we don't want to have Bible study today. We just got water back AND the electricity is on for the first time in three days. We have to take advantage of it and do laundry and clean our houses!" We praised God with them and then visited from house to house and spent time with them while they were washing and hanging mountains of clothes.
In December we wrote about a disabled boy named Jordan who lived up on a mountain outside Jarabacoa. He has since died. We didn't hear about it immediately because the community is so isolated. There are thousands more children just like him being cradled by parents who live in isolated areas without the resources to adequately care for their physical needs.
Rick recently met with a leader in another of the 5 daughter churches. He sat in their tiny 12X14 home and heard their passion for reaching the lost in their community. He was there to invite the man to a seminary class Rick is teaching. He has a hunger to learn more of the Bible so he can teach others. Rick then asked about their needs and how we could support them and pray for them. The man shared that they are praying for a home that is more adequate to raise their children and hold Bible studies. Most evenings after 8 the youth show up and hang out with them until about midnight, all crammed into their tiny house. They also shared that they were praying for another pair of shoes. This man only has one pair that serve for work, going to town, church, everything.
Just today I spoke with a woman from church who has a heart condition that we have been praying for. After catching up a bit by way of greeting, she put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Becky please pray with me. The cardiologist just prescribed a medicine for me. I haven't been feeling well, always short of breath. I went to the pharmacy to buy the medicine and came away in tears because it is so expensive." She wasn't asking me to buy the medicine for her, just to pray with her that God would heal her or provide the means to take the medicine. The medicine would cost about $50 a month. This seems like little to us, but with an average annual income of $250 per month in this country, that medicine might as well be made of diamonds.
As North Americans we are "can do" people. "Where there's a will there's a way." We innovate. We problem solve. When one solution doesn't work, we go back to the drawing board. And when all else fails, we throw money at the problem. Because surely with enough money anything can be fixed. But fixing the problems at hand is not always the best solution.
However, God always has the best solution. We see this time and again in the Bible. God is concerned about us and our planet at the very deepest level. He not only wants to provide for our physical needs, He has a plan to save us for all eternity.
I have learned that as soon as a problem comes my way, I need to go on my knees to Him with it. Before I try to solve it, before I react to it, sometim9es before I even let myself feel the pain of it, I take it to God. As I process it with Him, I begin to see it from His view. I have learned to ask myself, "How big is my God?" And my answer is always, "Bigger than that!"
"Can there be any God but this God that I love? He surrounds me with His strength and clothes me with His grace. He puts into my hands gifts to relay to others. He entrusts me with tasks far beyond my human capabilities and enables me to carry them out. He me as daughter and servant destined to accomplish His purposes amongst the peoples of the world."
Psalm 18 (paraphrase from Psalms Now)
