Make it Clear

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3, NASB.

As I neared the end of my two-year Journeyman term, I began to pray about extending another year to continue my work at an English center in a Southeast Asian mega city. I had an ongoing deal with God. If He’d make it clear, then I’d obey. Yet I have to confess that my heart was not in staying. I had planned on starting graduate school and hoped to get home and earn some money. Still, I wanted to at least ask if God had other plans.

In the course of praying, God led me to Isaiah 6:1-8. Perhaps God did have other plans that involved staying. I kept praying, and God kept giving me a sense that I needed to stay. Then the unthinkable happened. It was announced that the English center where I worked was being closed. The news hit me like a load of bricks. I felt confused and betrayed.

“That’s it God,” I said. “I’m going home. You didn’t hold up Your end so count me out.” In the midst of my confusion, I sent a letter to my parents describing my dilemma. My family loves and supports me, but they want me to be home. When I wrote to them, I was counting on them telling me to come home.

I dreaded having to tell my Bible study group that the center would be closing. As the group gathered, one of the guys seemed excited. He asked me, “Tony*, is there any reason we have to meet here? I think it would be better for us to start meeting in our homes.” I was speechless. Before I could even mention that the center was closing the group was already excited about the idea of meeting someplace else!

Soon after being stunned by my Bible study group, I received another shock. A letter arrived from my family. I ripped it open and read the letter. I had to read it a couple of times for its message to sink in. The letter said, “Tony, we love you. We are praying for you to seek God’s will for your life. We will not give you a selfish answer to come home. We believe God has a purpose for you where you are…”

I had never understood Jonah until now. It seemed that the harder I ran, the more God blew through my excuses and revealed His path for me to stay and focus on the people for another year. God used Isaiah 55:8-9 and Jeremiah 29:11 to draw me back to my original commitment. I said, “You made it clear, and I’ll obey. I’ll stay Lord.”

Today I’m using my gifting in media to work on a radio program that has the potential to impact a listening audience of 700,000 within my people group. It just goes to show that God has a bigger plan for us than we know. He certainly made that clear!

*Name changed for security reasons.

Pray that:

Believers will be open to God’s plan, even when it does not coincide with their own plans.

Tony’s radio project will have a huge impact on reaching his people group with the Gospel.

Tony’s Bible study group will grow and multiply in its new setting.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.