I have long made prayer and faith a central focus in many of these posts. It is not something I write about from theory. I write out of conviction and first-hand experience. I believe part of the reason I even exist is to inspire people to pray and trust God.
I was recently fascinated by a story related by Hudson Taylor in the biography written by his son Howard Taylor Hudson Taylor God's Man in China. Hudson felt called of God to go to China at an early age. He saw as part of his training that he needed to trust God for provision without the help of his family while he trained. He secured an apartment in the slums and worked as a medical assistant.
Hudson Taylor adopted the attitude of not revealing his personal needs or the needs of his ministry except to God through prayer. He resolved to discover if he could really trust God to meet his needs by praying for God to move people to give supply what he was lacking. He was put to test.
During one season the doctor he worked for neglected to pay him. He simply forgot in his busy schedule. Taylor never reminded him. He got down to his last coin in his pocket. God tested him further when Taylor met a man in severe need for his family. God prompted Taylor to give the coin away. It was a real struggle. He wrestled over the invitation to give and trust God. God won over his heart and he gave his last money away.
Taylor prayed for God to move people to help him in his poverty and the following Monday he received a financial gift of greater value than what he gave away. Still the doctor did not remember to pay Taylor. Days turned into weeks.
The Saturday came when Taylor had to pay his rent. He had nothing to pay it. He often retreated at the physician's office where he worked in the back pleading with the Lord to remind the doctor that he forgot to pay Hudson. God answered. The doctor suddenly asked him if it was time to pay his salary. Humbly Taylor replied that it was past time for several weeks. Taylor exalted that God heard his prayer and reminded the good doctor of his oversight.
Just as fast as Taylor's faith soared it came crashing down. The doctor bemoaned that he wished he had remembered earlier. He sent all his cash to the bank for deposit. Being that it was a Saturday a check would not do Taylor any good until Monday. Hudson tried to hide his disappointment.
The day ended and Taylor returned to his apartment doing all in his power to avoid his landlady. He busied himself with preparations for street ministry he engaged in on Saturday nights. He snuck out the door that evening again avoiding his landlady. At that moment he heard a voice laughing approaching. It was the doctor. The doctor related the story of how his most wealthy patient had just found him and paid his bill in cash at that late hour. It made no sense to the doctor, but amused he thought he ought to stop by and pay Hudson his wages.
Not only did God move the doctor to remember. He moved the wealthy patient to pay his bill in cash on a Saturday evening when he could have waited until the following Monday and written a check. God moved the doctor again to seek Hudson out that very evening to pay his wages. Hudson learned that not only could he trust God with his personal needs, but in the future, he could trust God with his needs as a missionary.
What God did for Hudson Taylor, Brenda and I have seen him do for our family repeatedly over the past 30 years. Like the time when we were planting a church and walked away from a $78,000 salary from the church we served previously. It was one of our largest steps of faith. One of the members of our previous church showed up on his travels and brought us love gifts from private people in the church totaling $8,000. Our previous church never gave us a dollar as a church organization. God moved people individually who gave us over $115,000 over the span of a decade. We did not mention our needs to anyone. Not to the people where we were planting or our previous church.
The treasurer of the church we planted had recently contacted me telling me there was enough offerings to pay our salary. God knew and God more than paid it and helped us for months and years down the road. Over and over again for a decade God moved people. One person paid our mortgage for several years. It is the only way we were able to keep our home. We never told anyone and never asked. God revealed the need and called someone to meet it.
He did it again yesterday. A mother of one of my P.E. students told me last week that she thought she had forgotten to pay me. I had no record of that and dismissed it and told her not to worry about it as the semester is nearly over. I found a check on my desk yesterday for $160. She said she woke up in the middle of the night and thought about that. I know God heard my silent prayers asking Him to move people through prayer to help in a time of need. She thought she neglected to pay. God had her delay so that the payment would show up at the right time.
Why do we doubt that our loving Father knows our situations? He can be trusted. Sometimes you might be the vessel of blessing for someone us. At other times you might be the recipient of blessing. God is faithful to bless and use you as a channel of blessing. In all of it He gets the glory. Hallelujah to His name.
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