“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” - Isaiah 66:2b.
My days are usually filled with reading the Scriptures, trying to understand its meaning, translating lessons from it into the Tobo language, attempting to make it understandable to others and endeavoring to make it applicable to a culture which is foreign to me. I read it and appreciate its pointed truthfulness, its reliability, its infallibleness, and its history. But how often do I “tremble” at the Word? I love the Word for its encouragement and sustaining strength when I am discouraged or wondering what will happen. My thoughts can reflect for hours on verses like Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” During this medevac to Australia, I really appreciated verses like that… knowing that my heavenly Father has not only my good in mind as he orchestrates circumstances; but also the good of the Tobo church, my friends and family, my co-workers, and even our supporters at home. We will never know all that God accomplished through our time in Australia. So, I have been encouraged through the Word of God; but what does it mean to “tremble” at the Word?
I think that while I was still in the tribe, I began to try to “help” the Word of God along. I felt I needed to “convict” people, and I was minimizing the power of the Spirit working in the lives of believers through nothing but his written Word. But does the Word of God need my pathetic help? “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty; but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Is. 55:11. God’s Word can do it on its own. I think I was getting prideful and arrogant, thinking I knew so much of the Word that I could actually do this job, and make these people understand the meaning. To whom does the Lord look? To him who is humble in spirit and trembles at God’s Word. Paul said, “I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God.” In my pride, I started using the “wisdom of man”.
I have learned on this trip, that God’s Word is not just something to be “loved” for it’s encouragement and sustenance; but it is also something to be “feared” (with a healthy fear) for it’s conviction. As I now sit and reflect upon God’s Word, I tremble (maybe not physically, but mentally) at its power and its sharpness and its conviction in my life. I believe that the more I understand this, the more the Tobo church too will understand and begin to tremble at the Word of God. But, for the Tobo church, I need to be the example of a man who is completely dependent upon the Word of God and not my own “wisdom”. Some in the Tobo church now love the Word; but I am praying that they will soon tremble at its convicting power.
By the time you receive this; we should already be back into the tribe. (If the weather is good). Please be in prayer that God’s Word will be loved and respected and trembled at in the Tobo church.
Thank you to all of you who prayed for me during this medical evacuation. Thank you to those of you who wrote and encouraged us. We did make the most of our time in Australia and had a wonderful break as a family, enjoying some much “needed” McDonald’s, ice cream, shopping, sun, and surf. I don’t think our stomachs can handle any more grease, and we have gotten all too accustomed to waking up late in the morning. We are heading back well rested and ready to continue on. We are excited to see what God’s Word will accomplish in the Tobo’s hearts and lives.
Thank you for your prayers. Prayer is not the “only” thing you can do for us; it is the greatest thing you can do for us.
His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp
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