In the African country of Zaire, in 1964, civil war broke out known as the Simba uprising. Wicked, brutal men invaded the schools, hospitals, and shops, emptying them of all their supplies. Many good men were murdered, tortured and mutilated, and all sense of order vanished.
One rainy night seventeen wild youths armed with spears swarmed into the hospital of a mission station and demanded the lady doctor’s keys to her van. Then they ordered her to drive them to a point 70 miles east. It so happened that only a short time before she had disconnected the lights and windshield wipers in hope that if Simbas should appear, it might deter them from making off with her van.
In the darkness and rain, with no lights or wipers, they set off on their perilous journey. Then two miles down the road the Simbas told the doctor to stop at a factory. There they demanded gas and oil from the mechanic in charge and ordered him to repair the lights and wipers.
All the while the lady doctor stood alone in the dark, conscious that death was very near, for if the mechanic revealed that the lights and wipers had been deliberately disconnected, it could well mean instant death for her. Just then she felt she was not alone, for beside her were two of her African friends from the hospital. They had followed the van in the darkness.
Soon the lights of the vehicle shone out, the engine started, and the wipers worked.
“Was this an act of sabotage?” asked the rebel chief.
“It seems so,” answered the mechanic, and immediately seventeen spears were raised threateningly in the direction of the three standing there in the glare of the lights. But just as suddenly those upraised arms were fixed, unable to move a muscle. God had stepped in. The angel of the Lord was there, and the three felt the sense of His presence.
“Go on, kill us,” they told the rebel band before them. “We shall go to be with Jesus, which is far better; but one day God will demand our blood at your hands.”
Then it seemed the seventeen upraised arms were suddenly released, but instead of carrying out their murderous intent, laughing and jeering, the Simbas piled into the van and drove away, taking the mechanic as their driver. The three Christians were left standing alone in the dark and the rain; cold—but ALIVE!
Together they walked back home to the mission, thanking and praising God for His wonderful deliverance and protection.
“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil... The righteous cry, and the Lord heath, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” Psalms 34:3, 15-173O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. (Psalm 34:3)
15The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. 16The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 17The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. (Psalm 34:15‑17).
ML-02/18/1979