Standing at the pulpit, in the middle of my sermon, I saw him run through the church door. “Quick, a tree has fallen on a man from a neighboring village breaking his legs and injuring his abdomen. Please bring the plane and take him to the hospital,” he said.
I turned the pulpit over to the head elder and headed for the runway. Our plane wasn’t very big, only a two-seater. Other mission pilots told me it definitely wouldn’t work as a mission plane, but it was all I had.
God asked Moses what he had in his hand. All he had was a rod, but God used that rod to liberate his people. An important principle in successful work is to use what you have. The patient didn’t care how small the plane was. The alternative was a two day trip, partly hand-carried in a hammock, then in a canoe.
Over the next 4 years I flew that small plane 4000 hours, saving lives, building schools, placing and supporting Bible workers and building churches. Today, that small plane is a small part of a fleet of aircraft that are saving lives and supporting mission work all over the world. Between them all, they fly about 5,000 hours a year. God will multiply that which is placed in His service no matter how small it is.
A second important principle is to move as soon as God opens the door of opportunity. “The slightest inclination in the balance…should determine the matter at once.” GW 133. The sooner you respond to an open door, the easier and greater the result. If you are awake and praying for God to show you the way, He will. It may come at an unexpected time or in an unexpected way, but if you sleep, you could miss it. Some opportunities never come back again. Even if they do, the second time will be more difficult than the first, so why wait? Pray that God will keep you awake and alert enough to seize it the first time.
Finally, a third principle is to put all you are and have into the work God calls you to do. Do not hold back. He that sows liberally shall reap liberally. You cannot out give God. By working for God you will learn the vital lesson of dependence on Divine provision which is vital to our salvation. And “they that turn many to righteousness (shall shine) as the stars forever and ever.” Daniel 12:3.
Don’t allow anything else to distract you. Work for time and eternity. We don’t know when, but very soon the door of probation will close for God’s people. I don’t even want to imagine being left outside when “the door is closed to those who would not enter.” LDE 182. But that is about to happen to a large number.
Let not the lament be heard, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jer. 8:20. Rather, we hope to hear these sweet words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant…enter thou into the joy thy Lord.” Matt 25:23.
From the Frontlines, Uncle David
