Brown's Daily Word 3-5-13

During the Lenten Season I love to read about some of faithful and devoted servants of Jesus our Lord. Currently I am reflecting on and reading about Dietrich Bonhoffer and Jim Elliott. Both of these men who loved Jesus died young. Most of us know about Jim Elliot, the missionary martyr who died in Ecuador in January 1956 when he and four other missionaries were killed by the Auca Indians. The story made headlines around the world and inspired books, films, and generations of Christian missionaries. His wife Elizabeth told the story in several books, including the best selling Through Gates of Splendor. More than a half-century later, we still repeat Jim Elliot’s famous words, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

Jim Elliot’s story gripped the christians around the world., making him arguably the most famous missionary of the 20^th century. What most people don’t know is that he had an older brother who went to Peru as a missionary in 1949. During his 62 years on the field, Bert Elliot established 150 churches. He died in Trujillo, Peru on February 17, 2012 at the age of 87. When Randy Alcorn interviewed him in 2006, Bert described his younger brother:

"Jim and I both served Christ, but differently. He was a great meteor, streaking through the sky."

Bert Elliot was home on furlough when Jim and the other missionaries were killed. He and his wife wrestled with whether or not they should return to the field:

“Why doesn’t God take care of us?” he remembered asking. “If we give our lives to serve him, how come there’s not the protection?” The answer that came to him then became the hallmark of his own life. “It’s in dying that we’re born to eternal life,” he said. “It’s not maintaining our lives, but it’s giving our lives.” So a few months later, Bert Elliot and his wife, Colleen, returned to the jungles of Peru. Randy Alcorn described Bert Elliot as a “faint star that rose night after night, faithfully crossing the same path in the sky, to God’s glory."

Jim Elliot was a great meteor, streaking through the sky. Bert Elliot was a faint star, crossing the same path night after night. Which one did the greater work?
Why did one die young and the other live 87 years? No matter how long we ponder the matter, these questions cannot easily be answered because “the secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29). God has his reasons but he’s not obligated to explain them to us. The “secret things” describe the deep purposes of God that we simply are not capable of understanding. What sort of explanation would be sufficient to explain to us why one man lives while another man dies?

God has his reasons but he does not explain them to us. It is a mystery hidden in the mind and heart of God. All human explanations must ultimately fail. There is an answer to the question "Why?", but the answer is hidden from our view. To all of our questions, God replies, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). The answer is a Person, not an explanation. God himself draws near to those who hurt. During the Lenten season we focus on the passion and suffering of Jesus our Lord. He is indeed the suffering servant, the Man of sorrows who is acquainted with our grief. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted­ed and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Here is a promise of God’s special presence in the midst of our pain. Through the Holy Spirit, the Lord himself draws near to us in times of great suffering. We sense his presence in a way that goes beyond the natural. We hear his voice though there is no sound in the room. In this same Psalm David declared, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” (v. 4).

In Christ,

Brown

http://youtu.be/ab8r0LNBtNo