David and
Joanne Divakar are our Grace-supported missionaries to India and to Indian
communities in Australia. Indians themselves, they are uniquely gifted to
minister in both Indian and Western cultures. Speaking at our church several
years ago, David related a story which shows God’s power and plan in a unique
situation. It helps us see past our own tiny slice of history and influence to
God’s larger perspective. Feeling small? Unsuccessful? Ineffective? Check.
Check. And check. I’ve transcribed from the recording of his message; this
reads more like a speech than a written account because it is. The rest of this
article is entirely his; I’ve not added anything. If you have heard Mr. Divakar
speak, you may be able to hear his voice as you read. (Lynda Shenefield)
Way back,
over 100 years ago now, there was a Hindu Guru. A Hindu Guru is a priest, and
he was reading from his book, a commentary on the Bhagavad Ghita, and in that
he was reading and teaching his disciples. In the course of his teaching, he
read a passage that said, “All religions will ultimately be done away with, but
a religion started by a carpenter will survive.” And he was thinking, “What in
the world does this mean?” because he said, “I am the priest of what I would
consider the greatest religion in the world.” This is gross, but they used to
wash his feet and drink it as holy water because according to the system of
reincarnation, you become, you know, the bad dog becomes a cat, but if you’ve
attained humanity, that’s pretty good. And then if you go one step farther,
where you’re a rishi or a swami or a guru or something like that, that is sort
of right below the status of one of their gods, and eventually you attain Nirvana,
which is nothingness. And so he said, “I am a priest, I am a guru and I don’t
even know what’s going to happen in the future. And here this book is talking
about someone who is going to come, a carpenter of all people, and his religion
is going to supercede mine? It doesn’t make sense.” And so he didn’t know how
to explain that, so he just sort of went over that. But that kept bothering
him.
In God’s
providence, there was a missionary who left London, England, and about that
same time came into that area and started preaching the gospel, and as he was
preaching the gospel, he came to this particular place where this guru was, and
he started teaching them and talking to them. And, if you know anything about
Indian people, they are pretty hospitable, pretty nice people. They won’t
accept everything you say, but they will shake their head and say, “Yes, yes.”
You know, the bobbing head “yes;” you’ve probably seen that. And they were
listening to him, not accepting what he said, but, in the course of his preaching,
he said, “As a matter of fact, Jesus was probably a carpenter before his three
and a half years of ministry, because His foster father Joseph was a carpenter,
so it’s very likely in that culture the son does what the father did,” and so
he just said that as a matter of fact, and he just went on, but that struck a
chord in this elderly man’s mind and he said, “Hey, maybe what I read in my
book and what this missionary is talking about are the same thing.” So, later
on, when no one was around, sort of like Nicodemus, he went secretly to where
the missionary was, but he wouldn’t go into his house, because this man
worshipped cows and that man ate beef, so that’s anathema. But he was curious;
he did want to know what he meant by what he said, and the missionary was so
happy to talk to him and tell him that God loves you. He loves you so much He
came down to this earth and died on the cross for you. That blew his mind. You
know why? Because it’s not Islam, it’s not Buddhism, it’s not Hinduism, there
is no religion in this world, you can Google it if you want to, there is no
religion that tells you that God loves you and in a personal way and that he
died for you and that He was a sacrifice for sin for you. That’s what this man
understood of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. He said, “If this is true,
it’s too good to give up.”
Making a
long story short, he accepted Jesus Christ as personal Savior. When he did
that, these same people who washed his feet and drank the holy water said,
“Man, we’re gonna kill you because you are a priest, and now you are a
Christian, of all things, and we cannot have that.” And so they kicked him out
of the village; his house, his land, everything was just left, bag and baggage.
He left and went to a big city. They kicked the missionary out, as well,
because they said, “Man, you messed us up big time, because you’ve converted
our guru into a Christian; if you stay here, that’s just not gonna happen.” And
so they kicked him out as well, and it is said that the missionary left, a very
sad man. After all that time and effort, just one person came to Christ; that’s
not good to write in your prayer letters, right, just one person came to
Christ? But, here’s the thing, we’re talking about a life turned around. God
can take any situation and use it for His glory.
What this
missionary did not know is that this elderly man’s son would pastor a church
for 42 years, preaching the gospel of Christ, seeing many souls saved. And that
his son, in the later part of his life, would be an evangelist, again,
preaching the gospel, and that his son would be a missionary, and that his son
is myself.
I am from
that lineage.
And I say
that, to say this. It is because we do not realize the power of our Lord and
Master until we go through that valley. You know, we love the victories, right?
When I was a kid, I used to love to hear my father and all the wonderful
stories he used to tell about how God did this for him, God did that for him,
wonderful things, and I used to wonder, is that ever going to happen to me? And
you know what? It isn’t until you fight the battle, that’s the only time you
win the victory. If you don’t fight the battle, you’re not going to win any
victories. I learned that and that’s what I understood – that God, if You want
me to be in this, I have to go through it. And that’s the same for all of us.
We want the victory, but we have to fight the battle before the victory. I thank
God for the life of Abraham and other people here in the Bible that we see that
went through a lot of hardship, a lot of difficulties, but God has the power,
the resources, the ability and, if it is His will, He can take a bad situation
and turn it for His glory and honor.
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