How Real Is God To You? Part Four
By Johnny Angel
Today I will share two stories that really touched me. The first was told
by a Gideon who visited my church one Sunday night. One of my
friends shared the other story with me one day while we were talking.
There was a man who lived in the middle of the African jungle. He had
never heard the gospel before. One day he rode the train to his capital
city to do business. While he was there, the Gideons were handing out
Bibles in his language. People were lined up in big lines to get their
own Bible. The man got in line and received his first Bible that was
also written in his own language. He immediately took interest in it and
treated it as if it were very precious. He read it while he was riding the
train back to his village. A soldier came through, grabbed the Bible
from him, told him he shouldn't be reading it, and threw the Bible out the
window. The man was terribly upset. He has just been reading about
Jesus and all the great things that He had done. He hopped on the
next train returning to the city. He got back in the line thinking they
would recognize him and recall that he had already received a Bible.
But he waited in the line, and the people gave him a Bible with the
same smile and enthusiasm as before. This time, he kept it tucked
away until he got home. When he got it out, he understood the good
news of the gospel and invited Jesus to live in his heart!
But the story doesn't end here! A few days later the railroad crew was
out working on the railroads between the city and the village. One of
the workers found something laying beside the tracks. It was the Bible
that the soldier had thrown out the window. It was simple and written in
his own language. As he read it, he also invited Jesus to come into his
heart. No doubt both these men continued to share what they learned
with their friends and family.
The other story also takes place in Africa. A missionary felt called to go
to a certain country. But that country's laws prohibited missionaries
from entering its borders. Still determined, the missionary went to a
bordering country where God was able to use him. One day a person
from the other country came across the border to trade. While she was
there, she heard the missionary preaching and sharing the good news
of Jesus Christ. She talked to the missionary and gave her heart to
Jesus! She told him that she had always believed there was some
higher power that she should worship. But she didn't know how. She
didn't worship and believe as the other people she lived around. She
was searching for the truth that can only be found in Jesus Christ!
The Bible shares stories like this. Acts 8:26-39 tells the story of how
Philip felt led by the Holy Spirit to go out into the desert. There he
found an Ethiopian reading the book of Isaiah trying to understand
what was going on. Back in those days, the Bible was on scrolls and
tablets. So it was before our nice paperback and hardback Bibles with
the rest of the Old Testament and the New Testament that hadn't even
been written at the time of this passage in Acts. Philip explained the
scirptures to the man, and he made a commitment to Christ!
In Acts 10, there is a man named Cornelius who was not a Jew but
who tried to follow the Jewish beliefs. He prayed to God regularly, but I
imagine he still felt like something was missing because he didn't know
about Jesus yet. God heard Cornelius' prayers and asked him to send
for Peter. Peter was afraid to go because he still hadn't figured out that
Jesus died for everyone. But after God got Peter's attention with a
vision, Peter went and told Cornelius how to be saved. The entire
family came to know Jesus as Savior!
There is a point to these stories. People who don't believe in Jesus will
make up excuses to say that God can't be real if there are all these
people who don't have access to the gospel. But God is bigger than
the limitations we place on Him. It's almost like we have a little box that
we keep all our Bible characters in. When we read the Bible, it is like
we are playing with those characters. We take God out, and Jesus,
and Peter, and Paul, and so on. But sometimes we forget that they are
real and not toys. God is not limited to our box. He is bigger than we
can comprehend! He can get through any barrier such as a border
that a missionary can't cross or whatever. One of the first scriptures I
used in this series on how real is God to you was Romans 1:20. It
explains how that everyone is without excuse because they can sense
that God is real. If they are like Cornelius or the lady in the middle of
the country that prevented missionaries from coming in, they can keep
seeking God. If they seek God with all their hearts, He will open the
necessary doors!
Thus, we can know that God is real because He can do the
impossible. He hears and answers the cries for help no matter where
they are!
N Prayer,
Johnny <*}}}><