Sometimes the needs we see can feel overwhelming. What can we pray in the face of such need? Is God still there when the big prayers seem to go unanswered?
While at Bible college in South Africa, a Ghanaian friend told us that the first missionaries to Ghana packed their belongings in a coffin. They knew that a tropical disease was likely to take their lives, and so they were very likely to die without seeing much progress in the work they had given their lives to. Our friend didn’t tell us this to put us off, but rather to put God’s work into perspective. Those first workers sowed a seed that the Lord then watered and caused to grow in his time and the gospel spread throughout the country.
Zambia, like Ghana, has a long history of Christian missions over the years. In fact, it is a self-proclaimed ‘Christian nation’. In reality, however, the church in large part is being bombarded and swayed by influences that peddle false gospels, ones which mean that people make demands of God for their immediate felt needs, treating him a little like a cash machine or some sort of magic charm to intervene in their lives. The sad reality is that people are being led astray.
So much of this comes down to people not knowing their Bibles or being taught faithfully from the pulpit. We are serving in Zambia to help change this situation, so that the true gospel can be heard and people can live their lives devoted to the God who has revealed himself in Scripture. A mountain!
The challenge with such an overwhelming task is exactly that – it can be overwhelming. How can we do it? Who should we focus on? What do we do when the work we’re doing seems so small, bearing such little fruit in the face of such big needs?
Well, we pray! We turn to God and ask for him to use us. We ask for him to bless the work we are doing. We ask for his guidance and his working. We ask him for perseverance despite discouragements. We ask him to satisfy us with himself, that to know him is enough.
And, in our experience so far, God often graciously gives little encouraging answers in amongst our big prayers.
Hearing someone say, ‘Well, it is good that Andy was there to hear that error – now he can gently correct it’, or seeing an older Zambian man, who is a church elder, understand that Jesus was the perfect servant and then wash the hands of those around him before eating food – those are the little things that help us to be thankful to God and remember that he is doing his work in his way through us.
The Psalmist said to lift our eyes to the hills because our help comes from the Lord (Psalm 121), and he said it because that is the best place to look. Moses, Jeremiah and Gideon all asked ‘who am I that you would use me?’. God went on to use them mightily and, while nationwide revival would be awesome, we may not ever see thousands flocking to Bible handling seminars in rural Mkushi.
But what we will see is that it is not about our measure of success or visible outcomes. Instead, it is about trusting in our God who is faithful and can do immeasurably more than we will ever know. It is good to celebrate the times that we do see answered prayers, as this can sustain us in the big, seemingly unsurmountable ones. C. S. Lewis sums it up beautifully in this quote: ‘I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer.’
Andy and Rachel Symons serve in Zambia, in teaching and pastoral ministry