God and Deep Waters, Part Two

Another aspect of the book Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper that I would like to share with you was also found in the story of Lilias Trotter’s life, in addition to my last post about her. As she struggled to find ways to make contacts with the Arab women in Algeria more than 150 years ago, she faced many setbacks and times of discouragement, as you can well imagine. One of the first challenges was learning to speak Arabic.

Back then, there were no language schools for missionaries so Lilias scrambled to learn as best she could from listening to it daily in the marketplace or in homes or on the streets. She developed embroidery classes for girls when she realized the children were the key to reaching the mothers. In addition, she held Bible classes for the girls and women alike, since most were illiterate and not permitted to attend schools. When invited into homes, she fellowshipped with the women as is done all over the world: chatting about parenting, satisfying curiosity about the world outside their city, and discovering similarities with these women to whom God had called her. She dreamed of Christian literature being made available to them where they could learn on their own and in their native language, a dream that came true finally in the early 1900s much to the delight of this energetic and dedicated missionary lady.

As she and her fellow laborers for Christ learned more about the culture in which they lived, the more evil reared its ugly head on every side. She described at one point how our enemy seems ever ready with a counter-move to every move God makes! Strange illnesses manifested themselves everywhere and many appeared to be more a case of demon possession than true sickness. It was an oppressive environment but God continued to bring victories in spite of it all.

One particular lesson I gleaned from reading about her amazing life in service to our Lord came in an example she drew from studying Scripture references to shallow waters versus deep ones. For you see, in shallow waters you can neither sink nor swim! Their very nature won’t permit anything but plodding through them. Not much danger but then, neither is the triumph important in the end. Anyone can manage to do that, putting one foot in front of the other and maintaining your balance so as not to get soaked.

It is when you encounter the deep waters that the real test of faith emerges. When you suddenly realize, as you lose your footing on the bottom, that you are in over your head and the imminent peril from drowning screams out at you with each desperate gasp for air, that is when your need for a Savior, a Deliverer, is essential! You cry out for Him to set your feet on a rock that will hold you above the waves; you cry out for rescue to keep you alive; you cry out for an ability beyond your own to survive this threat—and He answers! That answer might be in a reminder of how to quickly move out of the danger by swimming for safety. Or, He might reach out His hand as Jesus did to Peter one time and lift you into a place of safety without any effort on your part. But more than likely, it will require you to do something, even in a leap of faith and trust, to bring about your safety.

Do not rail against the shallows for they give you opportunity to strengthen your muscles and ability to trust in a compassionate God who sees and cares! And do not panic when you find yourself in over your head. It is then our God’s power can best be shown, through our weakness and helplessness. Lilias Trotter learned to accept both and the successes God earned through her efforts were tremendous and are still today being felt by missionaries everywhere.

God is faithful in the shallow waters as well as the deep ones. It is up to us to discover this truth whenever our pathway leads us to them. God is always faithful!