Humanly Speaking - Rev. Tan Soo-Inn

https://graceworks.com.sg/humanly-speaking/

“Humanly speaking we have no hope.”

I did a ministry trip to his country recently and an old friend, a senior Christian leader in his nation, said the above. His country has suffered under an oppressive regime for some time now and there was no end in sight. Another leader that I met said they had prayed constantly for God to rescue their nation from their political leaders, but God had not answered. She asked if it was ok to ask God “why?”. I said that based on the book of Psalms, it was ok to ask God why, but the book of Job tells me that God is not obliged to answer.

I had been invited to do some teaching in their country. I had agreed because I wanted to see some dear friends. We had kept in touch mostly through Zoom. I had heard their cries in their prayer items. I felt convicted to visit them in person, hopefully to encourage them but definitely to be inspired by them.

I wondered what right I had to teach them? Yes, I know the Bible and I can teach it, but I had no idea of how to live out the scripture in the difficult situation they were in. I guess you can’t go wrong expounding scripture, but I knew that I was there to learn and not just to teach.

I live in Singapore. The church here has her own challenges and there may be more coming in the days ahead. But our challenges are nothing compared to what my friends are going through in their country. A faith that is not challenged becomes flabby.

I have mixed feelings about the constant appeal to churches in Singapore to bring the gospel to the world, especially to the surrounding nations. The roles of this mission are very clear. We are the givers, the nations we go to are the recipients. I strongly feel that the roles are interchangeable. We go and give what we have. We go to receive what our brothers and sisters in the recipient countries have to give us. There is a mutuality in the kingdom of God. There is humility.

I wonder what it’s like to go on ministering when “humanly speaking there is no hope”? Yet that is precisely what my friends were doing. They were preaching the gospel, publishing Christian literature in their language, planting churches, equipping pastors, challenging Christian professionals to live out their faith for Christ, encouraging and building up one another, pressing on. And they were doing it when many had already chosen to leave the country.

I had the privilege to address a graduating class of Bible College students. I said that God had called them to ministry in a tough time in their country’s history. Yet it is when the night is darkest that the stars shine the brightest. I don’t know what price they may have to pay to shine for the gospel in their country. I pray they will find strength and courage to press on. Or to use a metaphor that may not make sense in a tropical country — the winter may be long and hard, but spring will come. Our hope is in God.