“Look at the way people made over you at home! What do you think they’d say if they could see you now? Look at your hands! Fine, tapering fingers made for the piano.” “And here you were all day today plastering a house with mud and manure. Just look at that mess caked under your fingernails! Quite a job for a missionary!” “Thought you were going to be preaching to hundreds of eager nationals! Holding savages spellbound with the Gospel!” “Excuse me, my dear, if I appear to sneer, but how many hours did you spend this week repairing the fences to keep the cows out of the vegetable gardens?” “Well, I must be going. It’s time for you to sing the doxology at your Sunday morning service, and I can’t stand that - never could. But don’t worry! I’ll be back. Yes, I’ll be back, you may be sure!” A missionary’s temptations never come in the way he had anticipated. The wily tempter sees that they come in a form which is unexpected and usually for which the novice is unprepared. It is good to remember that temptations come from the tempter - never from God! God tests; but Satan tempts. To pray is not enough. To watch is not enough. It must be both. If only the worker could at this time remember that he is in the making, that Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you...” He often thinks of the final clause - “fishers of men” - and forgets that there is a process involved. Every useful servant of God has his wilderness experience.
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