You’ve probably seen them
in hotel rooms, waiting rooms and hospital rooms. They come in different shapes
and sizes. They’ve been places some of us could never go—prisons, battlefields,
third-world countries we can’t even pronounce. According to their stats, 2
billion have been handed out in over 200 countries around the globe.[1]
Like Jesus’ miracle banquet of fishes and loaves, Gideon Bibles have been multiplied
and handed-out over and over again.
Recently, I heard a story
of how a pocket-sized Gideon New Testament saved a life. When Eli Fangidae, an
Indonesian businessman, decided to take his own life, a friend found him
dangling by a rope and cut him loose. Afterward, in protective custody, Eli
decided to try again; at that moment, his attention was drawn to a nearby
Gideon New Testament. Out of curiosity, he opened it and read: “Do you not know
that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If
anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him” (1 Cor. 3:16).
“How could the page be
opened at that very moment when I was going to commit suicide?” Eli later said.
“There were no earmarks, nor were the verses underlined. When I thought of
those verses given me by God, I knelt down and cried, ‘Oh God, forgive me. Have
mercy on me.’”[2] Eli’s
life was changed forever and today he is a Christian praising God for a scripture
which led to salvation.
When I read that story I
was reminded of what God told the prophet Isaiah. The Lord made an analogy
between His Word and the refreshing effect of rain on a dry and parched land:
“As the rain comes down,
and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and
make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to
the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not
return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper
in the thing for which I sent it” (Is. 55:10-11).
That’s an amazing promise.
God’s Word is a seed that always sprouts when it is sown, an arrow that always
finds its mark, a package that always arrives right on time. God’s Word is
never wasted; His promises always prosper; His agenda will be accomplished.
Whether His Word is proclaimed by tongue or by pen, there is a guaranteed a return
on investment.
In the beginning, God’s
word was used to create the universe from nothing. He spoke to the faithful—Abraham,
Moses, Elijah. Eventually, God’s Word became flesh, through His Son. And God used His words through the early
Christians and forefathers to spread and embody the Gospel. God’s Word has
created, called, convicted, comforted and one day it will be completed!
Thake heart dear friend—if
you are involved in disseminating God’s word your work will be rewarded. That
sermon that you thought flopped, actually had a purpose. That devotional you
wrote, and you thought no one read, may have not arrived at its destination. That
Sunday school lesson you taught where you thought no one was paying attention,
may be lodged deeper in their mind than you think. Just keep sowing the Word, “for
in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9). -DM
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