Footsteps of the Faithful, Part 2

 

(Can I really do a “part 2” of someone else’s article?) I was in awe of Amy’s post last week, partly because it is so relevant and strengthening, and partly because I had prepared this piece and it follows her thoughts so perfectly. She asked us to respond with biographies that have encouraged us in our faith. This one qualifies!

In 1731, Pietists Johann Schoenfeldt and his brother-in-law Johann Poet and their wives were making their way by boat from Count Zinzendorf’s estate, Herrnhut, in Saxony to Haarlem (Amsterdam), Holland, where they hoped to find freedom to worship as they wished. Count Z had earlier taken in all forms of religious dissenters for protection at his refuge, but subsequently decided to require all to become Moravians. Those who declined were forced out.

Poet’s diary of the trip is an amazing story of reliance on God for every event, every moment, every day of their journey. His object was to give his friends in Silesia, Germany, their former home, “a report of the way the Lord has led us.”

A day’s journey from Herrnhut, they engaged passage on a ship, but found, to their dismay, they had to wait 10 days to sail and had little money for food. The customs inspector referred them to a resident who gave Poet 10 days’ work, providing him wages and extra money for food. They went “with God’s guidance” on board the ship. Sprinkled among his accounts of the people they met and the kindnesses showed them are comments such as, “on the 3rd of May the Lord brought us to Wittenberg.” “On the 6^th of May in the morning the hand of God guided us safely through the bridge at Magdeburg.” “We were not aware of the great danger through which our Lord had guided us so gently.” “On the morning of the 16^th we arrived, with the guidance of the Most High, in Altona. We decided to spend this one day aboard the ship to see what the dear God had in store for us.”

At one point one of their companions went ashore to see if he could find a poor man who would rent them a room, “but the dear God led him by chance to a very wealthy Mennonite,” who offered a large house to shelter their whole group. Faced with the choice of whether to stay or to keep on with their journey, Poet wrote,” Now we are sitting here and looking, as children, up to our dear Father who has met our meager needs by means of our handiwork.” A month later, “We still sit here, however, and await the signal of the dear God. When He commands us to move on, then we are resolved to move on immediately.” Another month later, “the Lord again gave us courage, that we should go in his name to Holland. So in the name of God we boarded a ship on the 1^st of August.”

At that point they had been given bread and cheese but had little money. Poet commented, “We turned over our cares to God, and although we well knew beforehand that the trip would take at least 11 to 12 days, even with a good wind; that we had no hope of eating one single bite of warm food; that we were well aware of the weakness of our bodies; that we could expect seasickness; in spite of all this, we cast ourselves into the hand of the dear God and decided to be satisfied that we could do as He wished.”

The remainder of the diary is a similar account of hardships, amazing provision for their needs, encounters with believers of other denominations and sects, all couched in Johann Poet’s firm belief in God’s leading, provision and sovereignty. At every point, he credited God with guiding them and giving them success in their journey.

Credit: Maryland Magazine of Genealogy, Spring 1980, Fall 1980.

 We were provided a copy of this fascinating diary by Dr. Hale T. Shenefield who, along with Paul Shenefield, is one of the descendants of Poet’s traveling companions, Johann and Elizabeth Schoenfeldt. Dr. Shenefield comments, “This letter illustrates, better than anything else, their Pietistic approach to life, their interpretation of their whole life and the most prosaic experiences in terms of the direct intervention of God in their lives; providing a ship for the next part of the trip, lodging for the night, getting a good captain and so on. Today, such an approach to life seems exaggerated. To them, it was both right and inevitable in view of their religious commitment and the events of their world.”

It is sad that Dr. Shenefield is correct. “Today such an approach to life seems exaggerated.” It should not. God IS involved in our moment-by-moment lives. Every good and perfect gift is from Him – not merely a by-product of our relatively safe, relatively secure, relatively prosperous, freedom-boasting society. From what our missionaries tell us, persecuted Christians (which these Pietists were) today do consciously rely on God for provision and protection every day, believing God is working His will in all. May we humbly follow suit.

--Lynda Shenefield