MORNING MANNA 9-15-24
FAITHFULNESS
“…. be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”Revelation 2:10
“Expect great things from God;
attempt great things for God.”
William Carey is most famous for this saying, but I like a lesser-known saying of his. He once wrote: “I can plod. I can persevere to any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.”
William Carey was raised in an obscure, rural village in the middle of England in the 18th century. He apprenticed in a local cobbler’s shop until he became a Baptist pastor and eventually surrendered to a call to bring the gospel to India.
Carey’s early years on the mission field were miserable. The one other man who had come with him deserted the enterprise, illness racked the family, and loneliness and regret set it. At one point William Carey wrote in his diary, “I am in a strange land. No Christian friend, a large family, and nothing to supply their wants.” But then he added: “Well, I have God, and his word is sure.”
When Carey himself contracted malaria, and then his 5-year-old son died of dysentery, it became too much for his wife. Her mental health deteriorated. She suffered delusions, falsely accusing Carey of adultery. At one point in her paranoia, she threatened him with a knife. She eventually had to be physically restrained.
In his diary, Carey wrote, “This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me. But I rejoice that I am here notwithstanding; and God is here.”
He had always been proficient in languages. He taught himself Greek, Hebrew, and Latin even before entering the ministry. In India, he learned Bengali with the help of a local, and in a few weeks began creating a Bengali-language Bible. In December 1800, after seven years of missionary labor, Carey baptized his first convert. Two months later, he published his first Bengali New Testament.
But hardships continued along with the progress. One of the most devastating setbacks was a warehouse fire in 1812. By then he had created a massive dictionary, two grammar books, and whole versions of the Bible in various Indian languages. All of it was destroyed, and no backup copies existed. Carey accepted the tragedy as from the Lord and began again with even greater zeal.
Across 40 years, he translated the entire Bible into India’s six major languages, and parts of the Bible into 209 other languages and dialects.
None of his accomplishments would have been possible without his stubborn determination to just keep plodding.There’s a biblical word for that. Faithfulness. – Tom Goodman
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
Humble, Tx
