Held Fast to the Unseen Evidence
The early pioneer missionaries who served in the jungles of New Guinea (now Papua New Guinea) in the 1940s were people of faith who never let go of the plow of service for the Lord, no matter the situation or the cost. Where the Lord had called them, they willingly bore in their bodies the remaining sufferings of the cross for the Church.
In her early twenties, young missionary bride Darlene Deibler Rose was caught in the chaos of World War II while serving in the field and was imprisoned in a Japanese POW(Prisoner of War) camp. She endured unspeakable suffering—eating porridge mixed with dead rats, battling dysentery, roundworms, hookworms, deadly cerebral malaria, and beriberi, grieving the loss of her husband and fellow believers, and surviving torture. But the Lord comforted her broken and wounded heart with His strong arm, restoring her in the beauty and teaching of the deep comfort of the Holy Spirit.
She once asked herself, “It’s not hard to read and believe Scripture when everything goes well. But can I still say I believe when I face incomprehensible trials?” The Lord changed her confession: “Lord, I believe every word written in Your Word. I walk by faith, not by sight. I don’t need to feel Your closeness, because the Bible says You will never leave me or forsake me.”
From 1949, Rose spent 30 years pioneering missions among the Dani people in the Baliem and Wagi Valleys of New Guinea. Her two sons grew up among the tribal people. Through her life, like a seed falling into the earth and dying, Papua New Guinea became the region with the highest concentration of Bible translation missionaries in the world.
》 Scripture Prayer
| 2 Corinthians 5:1-10(NIV) 1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. |
》 Pray that the Word may become the Conclusion.
1. Darlene Deibler Rose’s life was far from heroic. It was the persistent triumph of Christ’s strength within a fragile, broken, and wounded young woman. Let us pray that believers in this generation would rise with such resilient faith.
For we live by faith, not by sight.(2 Corinthians 5:7,NIV)
2. Suffering doesn’t wait until we’re ready—it comes suddenly, unannounced. But through it, we come to know the cross. Let us pray that churches everywhere would share in the sufferings of Christ.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.(2 Corinthians 5:1,NIV)
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