Lately I have been reading the second volume of Hudson Taylor's biography (Growth of a Work of God) by his son and daughter-in-law Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor. While the two volumes sometimes stray into the genre of hagiography, I have found much that is helpful and encouraging. There is no denying that Hudson Taylor was a man of great faith who set a nearly unparalleled example of self-sacrifice for the sake of the gospel throughout his life. The following incident from his life was a real encouragement to me recently. I've paraphrased it for my own purpose and for the sake of brevity.
It was December, 1891. Taylor was nearly 60 years old, and by this time he was responsible for over 500 missionaries spread throughout China. Once every month the London office of the China Inland Mission would telegraph headquarters in Shanghai with notice regarding the financial support for that month. This particular month, the CIM missionaries were urgently in need of 2,000 pounds for a variety of needs. The cable arrived announcing that month's remittance: 170 pounds. A hundred and seventy pounds when they desperately needed 2,000, and no telegram for another month. Do you think this might have been a little disheartening – to eagerly await funds from England and when the notice arrives, you receive 8.5% of what you urgently need? There was a younger member of the Mission present in the study when Taylor received the telegram, no doubt awaiting the financial news as breathlessly as anyone. New to the field, he was probably more than a little crushed by the not-so-helpful news. Taylor, apparently quite at leisure over the financial shortfall, turned to the young guy and said, “Now you will watch. You will watch and see what God will do.” Whoa. What about the emergency prayer meeting? What about sending an urgent telegram back to London asking for prayer that the rest of the money would show up somehow – or just asking for more funds? I'm sure there already had been a lot of prayer going up concerning the matter. And God did not fail them. Throughout the rest of that month, help came from several unexpected sources, so that by the end of the month every missionary had received his regular support with nothing lacking (see Hudson Taylor, The Growth of a Work of God, pp. 514-515).
Obviously, we are not experiencing anything like what the CIM people did over 100 years ago in China, but we too are waiting to see what God will do. This is not a time for us to take matters into our own hands, although there is much that we can and should do. I would not say that our situation is bleak, but we have not had much positive indication lately that we are making progress toward our goal of raising support. However, this is a good opportunity to watch and see what God will do.
05/05/2008
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