It’s amazing how quickly God helps me gain perspective again sometimes. And how often He needs to remind me to trust Him.
A couple weeks ago my roommate and I traveled to the coast to work on a project involving IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons). Since late last summer, there has been increasing tension and conflict between the Orma and Pokoma tribes in the Tana River Delta area, leading to hundreds of deaths, villages burned, and entire communities fleeing, mostly women and children (read more here). We were traveling down to cover a bit of the relief effort some of our co-workers had put together, including trauma counseling for the children.
However, after we arrived but before we could even meet with the children, we received a phone call that there had been an attempted break in at our apartment back in Nairobi. At first we thought the thieves had gotten in, and we had no idea what they would have taken. The only thing I was really worried about was my laptop, which I had left there…with all of my pictures, memories and work on it. I know, I know. I should have it all backed up…and I have since done that. But aside from that, it felt like an invasion of privacy, and it made me realize that I wasn’t as secure as I thought I was. Which is probably a good thing to remember, so that I don’t become too comfortable.
In the midst of trying to figure out what had happened, and praying to calm our fears, we met with some of the children who had fled their homes. They were encouraged to cry out to God when they were afraid, and then they were asked what they had cried to God in the midst of their flight. One young girl said she was praying for food and shelter for her family…and that the Ormas wouldn’t kill them anymore.
That was enough to stop me in my tracks.
So my privacy was invaded. So our “stuff” could have been taken…So what. While I’m really grateful that the break-in was unsuccessful, I am even more grateful that God used that, and the young children we met, to remind me that everything on this earth is temporal…including life. He alone holds our life in His hands. And as I’m reading in Job right now, everything could be gone in an instant….and then what? Do I “Curse God and die,” as Job’s wife suggested (Job 2:9)? Or do I answer as he did,
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God…” (Job 19:26 ESV)
And seriously, what joy these children had! I loved spending each day with them, hearing their stories and listening to their beautiful giggles.
We are at the coast again, working on some more projects, and we had the opportunity to interview the woman who has taken in over eighty of these IDPs. She and her family have provided shelter, food, clothes and school fees at the expense of their own comfort, their own bills to pay, trusting that God would provide. I was so encouraged by her, her faith and her willingness to give it all away for the sake of the gospel. After recounting how they had completely depleted their savings and watched God provide for their needs, she said it reminded her that “If I take care of God’s business, he takes care of mine.” And then she said “I will never get tired of serving Jesus, even when it hurts.”
What a great reminder! No matter what we face, God is in control, and since “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above…” (James 1:17), everything we have is God’s anyway, so why not give it back to Him willingly. Besides, if we are more valuable than the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, whom God has fed and clothed, how much more will He do so for us! (Matthew 6)
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
Through the Lens of Hope... 