Glory to God

Yesterday I heard two remarkable testimonies. The first was in our church where a retiring missionary outlined his thirty-five years of experiencing God’s faithfulness as he was moved from place to place and constantly given different hats to wear. He testified of God’s power to enable him no matter the drastic changes in his life or the demands of the work he was doing.

The other one was Bruce Olson at Missions Fest 2009 in our city. I’m suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of inadequacy to write about the things he said and the awesome power of God in his life. When still a teen, he wanted to reach out to a certain people group in South America, a tribe that was resisting anyone that came near them and any change to their way of life. No missionary organization would support him, so he went alone and wandered in the jungle for months until he found them. Actually, they found him, shot him with their long arrows and took him captive.

This tribe was headed toward extinction. They were called cannibals. Their language was so complex that no one could understand them. They killed anyone that threatened them and the odds were overwhelmingly against change. But they did not kill Olson. God began to use this young man and the results are legend. (Some of his stories are at the link above.)

In 1973, he wrote the story, now titled Bruchko. I read it about ten years ago and wept at the amazing things God did in this man’s life and in the lives of the people in that so-called primitive tribe. Yesterday we heard more of God’s amazing work and I’m numb with what was said. We know God can do anything yet rarely experience anything like the experiences of Olson and this small Colombian tribe, now respected worldwide.

This morning, my devotional guide directs me to think about why God answers prayer. He certainly answered the requests of the first missionary, and those of Bruce Olson. He often answers my prayers, even in ways that are astounding. The verses given are part of the why:

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:13-14)

When Olson was finished speaking, the audience didn’t know what to do. Normally a speaker delivers stories of God’s grace in somewhat of a dramatic manner and the listeners feel like applauding at least their delivery, but this man didn’t make us feel like that. He left no sense of “Wow, what a man” but a total sense of “Wow, what a God!”

Applause seems an inadequate response to the glory of God. What do you do when He puts His servant into the hands of rebel guerrillas who tie him to a tree for months, then decide to bring him into their camp where he teaches them to read and write and leads them to faith in Jesus Christ? What do you do when God sends a mockingbird, noted for mimicking what they hear, to his servant who is deathly ill, and has that bird sing a song of salvation and resurrection in the tonal language of a people group whom he has also taught to read and write and follow Jesus? (Read this story at the above link.)

We applauded God, but I felt like falling on my face. My prayers are often too selfish, and too often I take bits of glory for myself, but yesterday I realized what I want to be when I grow up. I want to trust God much more, and I want to be just a little bit like these two faithful missionaries who both know what it means to glorify Him.