Wait on the Lord
Manua was very discouraged. He had been sent by the mission to a certain village to try to build up a church, but somehow he just couldn’t get anyone to come to his meetings. It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried. Oh, no. He had gone from house to house inviting people to come. He had promised to show them pictures and to teach them to sing. He had tried to lure them with stories for the children. In short, he had done everything he could think of, but to no avail. The people were too satisfied with the other church mission that had been there for many years, and they would not even come to listen. They were not willing to change because they were set in their ways and traditions.
Manua and his wife prayed earnestly that something would happen. They distributed clothing to the needy and Manua’s wife gave simple treatments to the sick. The people appreciated what was done, but they would not come to the meetings.
” Well,” said Manua one day, ” The only thing I can think of is to have the missionary come again. When he preached here everyone in the village came to hear him, because it was a novelty to see and hear a foreigner.”
” Anyway,” he added in despair, ” I’m not a good preacher. I’m just a translator and I should stick to that. Going out on my own was a big mistake. I should stick to the one thing I can do well, and I’m going to write to the mission and tell them that I no longer want to work as a missionary and that they should send someone else here to work. Maybe they will have more success.”
So he carefully wrote a letter late that night, asking the mission to relieve him of his responsibilities and put him back in the evangelistic team where he could translate. ” Translation,” he wrote, ” is the one thing I can do well, and I have decided to go back into it. Please send me somewhere where I can work for the Lord and get results.”
But for some reason Manua didn’t get the letter posted. For one thing he was too busy packing up his books and other personal belongings so he could be ready to go where he was certain he would be called. Of course, it bothered his conscience. Many times as he tied up his boxes he wondered if he were acting like Jonah. But always he brushed aside the thought. If the Lord wanted him here He would have given him some results. Or at least people would come to hear what he had to say. There simply was no use wasting his time here.
He went to bed that night feeling very sorry for himself. But before he drifted off to sleep he heard something. The sound of singing was coming from the other little church down the road where the other mission was located.
Quickly Manua got up and dressed. At the edge of the ray of light that streamed from the window he stood listening. A foreign evangelist was speaking and a man very much like himself, Manua, was translating. He listened for a while, then smiling and shaking his head at the very poor translation, he went back home and to bed.
The next morning Manua picked up the letter and put it in his pocket. Today he was going to town and would mail it without fail. But somewhere along the way he got sidetracked and when he got back home he discovered the letter still in his pocket. Manua was really disgusted with himself. For a moment he considered another trip to town, but decided he would not get there before the post office closed, so with a sigh he put it away for the next day.
That night as he lay in his bed he again heard the singing. He smiled to himself. If the translator was translating as he did last night, nobody was going to understand anything.
Manua had just dropped off to sleep when a loud knocking at his front door announced a visitor. Quickly he got up from his mat and stumbled through the darkness.
“Yes?” he answered, peering through the open doorway.
The man at the door turned on his flashlight. It was the foreign preacher. ” I was wondering whether I could secure your services for translation?” he asked politely. ” The translator I have working for me simply cannot get the message across. I understand that you are the best translator in the village. I would be glad to pay you well.”
Manua was on the verge of refusing when a brilliant idea hit him. Why not? It was worth a try.
The next evening Manua entered the pulpit with the foreign preacher. Together they knelt to pray and Manua’s request was very special.
As he stood beside the preacher Manua’s request was always on his heart. ” Lord, help me to get Thy message across,” he prayed. ” Don’t let me say anything that is not truth.”
Now the preacher was getting warmed up, ” Nobody has to keep the law,” he bellowed.
Manua translated. ” Everybody has to keep the law.”
” That was done away with at the cross!”
” It was never done away with at the cross,” said Manua.
” You don’t have to keep the law.” The old minister went on.
” You must keep the law,” Manua countered.
” The seventh-day Sabbath is Jewish,” the preacher went on. “No one needs to keep it.” ?
” The Sabbath is for all Christians. Everyone should keep it,” preached Manua.
And so it went all through the sermon. The preacher spoke error and Manua translated truth. In the back of his mind he wondered what would happen when it was all over, but like Balaam he could do nothing else.
When the service ended, the people at the door shook the minister’s hand cordially. ” That was a real sermon,” they said. ” We want some more like that.”
Smiling to himself, Manua went home and tore up the letter. Somehow he knew God was getting through to these people.
Several more nights passed, with Manua translating truth from error. The people began to say, ” Why, this is what Manua believes. Our church believes just like his does.” And when the preacher left town Manua opened his own meetings with most of the other congregation present. And before long Manua’s church – the church where truth was preached – was the biggest in the village.
Sometimes it may look like our work is in vain because we don’t see any results from our work. We may be tempted to give up like Manua was. We feel we don’t have a talent for the specific duties that have been asked of us. However sometimes God tests us to see if we will continue working for Him, or if we will give up. We are to plant the seeds and leave the growth to the Lord. We need to just patiently wait on the Lord.
” And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9
We should work like Paul and not worry about the results, but leave them to the Lord. Paul said, ” I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6
” Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Psalm 27:1