“Don’t go any further! Evil men along this river!”
Such was the alarming messages written on a scrap of paper and thrust into the missionary’s hand in Thailand. He and his companions were traveling up the river distributing gospels and Christian literature to the river folk and those in villages along its banks. They had heard reports of looting and even murder on some parts of the river, and now they were nearing its most dangerous stretch.
The missionaries prayed, asking God’s guidance and protection, and decided to go on. Presently they came to a lonely, secluded part of the river, and pulling in to the bank, they settled for the night. No sign of inhabitants did they see, the night passed peacefully, and in the morning they went on their way.
Then they learned that sometime before, a fisherman found this a good spot for fishing, and he went there again and again. The third night he was waiting expectantly in his boat at the same spot, when suddenly, out of the darkness, he saw a strange apparition—a ghostly figure right before him! Terrified he sat glued to his seat in the boat. Then with a yell, he paddled away for dear life. It was soon spread all along the river that the place was haunted, and no one, not even the bandits, would venture there after dark.
So the missionaries who had prayed and trusted God for His protection had been guided, unknown to them, to the-lone safe spot on the whole stretch of the river.
The Psalmist wrote, “He led them on safely, so that they feared not.” It is no vain thing to trust the Lord for our daily life and care.
ML-11/26/1978