Come Rest Awhile

“I haven’t received your application yet,” declared Peter Lausevic, my teacher, my mentor, and dare I say my favorite minister. We were sitting at the youth lunch table when Brother Peter got the chance to ask me why he had not yet received my application to the Johannesburg 2017 project in South Africa. I proceeded to tell him that my school would interfere, and even if I came after final exams, I would already be two weeks late to the project. “That’s fine” he said, “I’d rather have four weeks than nothing at all.” This was in November, and one month later I would find myself reuniting with my Australian friends from half a world away, hearing, teaching, and feasting on God’s Word together.

It was at missionary school that Brother Peter originally invited all of the students to go to South Africa, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to go. But one can never fully understand God’s providence. Because after I came from Australia, little by little I was absorbed in school until the burden became too great and I was overwhelmed. My soul was thirsty for the knowledge of Jesus because I had lost sight of Him, and did not know how to find Him again.

And then came the invitation, “I haven’t received your application yet.” Sitting at the table on a Sabbath day, enjoying rest, and contemplating my future, it was as if Jesus Himself said the words to my heart, “Come, rest awhile.” This was my chance, to come back to God, to walk with Him again, to enjoy the sweet communion of His heavenly presence. And so I went.

This project was God’s chosen opportunity to reveal Himself to me all over again. And so it was that I arrived, and on my first day, we visited an orphanage, and I saw the multitudes of kids so happy to play with their foreign visitors. We did Bible work, and as we prayed we experienced God hearing and answering our prayers. We met people on the street and they welcomed us to their homes to share the Word of God. I woke up in the morning, and as I opened my devotional and bowed on my knees, I heard the blessed assurance of the Prince of Peace, “Lo I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). He supplied strength for the day ahead, and we went forward, with God before us.

We prayed that we might experience the deep things of God, and be able to share the Word of life with those around us. One afternoon as we were about to start a Bible study, a man who recently got out of prison joined us, and afterwards asked us for help. He had secured a job and a place to live, and needed money for transport, as it was a couple of hours away. My friend Elisabeth came up with a brilliant plan: “Let us invite him to come for a Bible study tomorrow about prayer, and if he comes, we may share with him quite practically how the Lord answers prayer, and take him to the bus station and buy the ticket he needs.” Wow, amazing plan! What an experience with the Lord that would be for him. Unfortunately, we never got to tell him about that proposition. After worship, we lost sight of him in the crowd; the day had passed, we had not helped him, and chances were that we might never see him again.

Days passed, and we kept working. It was on a Friday night when God blessed the youth especially, and as we were all walking together we started talking about conversion. We reiterated the Lord’s promises, “Ask, and ye shall receive.” Of how we may ask for a new experience, to be converted, and have it that very hour. He is pleading for us to ask that He may shower upon us His blessings. We talked of God’s miracle-working power in His word that “spake and it was done” (Psalm 33:9) and that speaks to us, “A new heart will I give you” (Ezekiel 36:26). We talked of all His promises that are ours to claim and ours to experience that very moment. What a blessed time we had, and when we came back, Elisabeth, Daniela, and I were thinking, “Why don’t we pray for God to bring that man back?” “It is God’s powerful word that made the world, that can give us a new heart, and that can touch his heart to come back.” And so we prayed.

The days passed, we got busier and busier, and God poured out His blessing on our evangelistic meetings and our Bible studies, but the project was coming to an end. We were about to leave, and never would we know what became of that man. I still remember the day, the bright sun shining outside with the gentle breeze filling the empty church hall; we had just finished class, and I was getting ready to move out, when Elisabeth came running in with the biggest smile, “He is back!” God brought him back. God answered our prayer, and we were able to share about that powerful word of prayer, and how God answered his prayer, because we would help him. And we helped him, and he helped us, because God answered our prayer and his prayer, and gave us all a deeper experience. You see, if we ask, God will give “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38). And the song that was sung so often became my experience: “Roll, roll your burdens away, for Jesus has promised to take them all. Amen