I have recently finished reading Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot. The book is primarily the journals and letters of Elliot's missionary martyr husband, Jim Elliot. Elliot lost his life along with four other missionaries attempting to make contact with an unreached Amazon tribe in 1956.
Out of that context, comes Elliot's best remembered quote
He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep to gain what he cannot
lost.
The fact that was written several years before his death makes it all the more profound. But in reading the Shadow of Almighty I was moved by several other passages in the book.
In addressing his parent's potential grief over both their sons' call to foreign missions Elliot wrote the following words
Grieve not then, if your sons seem to desert you, but rejoice, rather, seeing
the will of God done gladly. Remember how the Psalmist described children? He said that they were as an heritage from the Lord, and that every man should be happy who had his quiver full of them. And what is a quiver full of but arrows? And what are arrows for but to shoot? So, with the strong arms of prayer, draw the bowstring back and the let arrows fly -- all of them, straight at the Enemy's hosts.
On his struggles with sharing the truth of the gospel in new languages, he states
...the statement of truth is regarded as 'too deep', to difficult to express in Quichua, which is such a simple language. Still, it is better to try to make them understand, in order that they may know what they are rejecting, than it is, by pressing the acceptance more than the understanding, to allow them to accept something they do not understand.
At another point he writes in his journal
How well I see now that He is wanting to do something in me! So many missionaries, intent on doing something, forget that His main work is to make something of them, not just to do a work by their stiff and bungling fingers. Teach me, Lord Jesus, to live simply and love purely, like a child, and to know that You are unchanged in Your attitudes and actions toward me. Give me not to be hungering for the 'strange, rare and peculiar' when the common, ordinary, and regular -- rightly taken -- will suffice to feed and satisfy the soul. Bring struggle when I need it; take away ease at Your pleasure.
May God stir you deeply as you head into a strong weekend of ministry.
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1 comment:
Tim, the last quote was especially meaningful - "stiff and bungling fingers" and the "common" being more than enough if our eyes and ears are open. Amen. Bob
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