In Luke 17:11-14, ten lepers approached Jesus and asked Him to heal them. Jesus responded to their request, “’Go, show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed.” According to the Levitical Law, the priests were the ones with the authority to declare that a person was “clean” or healed from their disease.
Jesus didn’t heal these ten, then tell them to go show themselves to the priests. Instead, He asked them to demonstrate their faith in Him to heal them by going. “And as they went, they were cleansed.”
Sometimes Jesus asks us to do something that defies reason. Maybe some would say it is even irresponsible. In 1978, when Linda and I were appointed as missionaries to Austria with Greater Europe Mission, I had completed a three-year Bible school diploma, but the mission asked me to finish my bachelor’s degree before they would send us to Austria.
We knew that the Lord had led us to this point, so we accepted the mission’s request as God’s further leading. However, the Bible college where I had received my diploma was so new that it was not yet accredited. And local colleges were unwilling to accept my credits.
But the dean of the Bible college knew the president of an accredited Christian College in Minnesota. The dean knew him because the president used to hunt pheasants on his family farm. So the dean called the president of that college, explained my situation and he agreed to accept my credits and let me continue my education there.
Linda and I had two small children (ages three and one) at the time. So that fall, we loaded our belongings into a U-Haul truck and drove from Medical Lake, WA to Mahtomedi, MN. We didn’t know anyone there, but friends of my parents had agreed to let us stay with them for three days.
THREE DAYS! After that, we had no idea where we would live. I had no job lined up to support my family either. We wondered, “Are we crazy?” “Did we really hear God’s voice?” “Is this really what He wants us to do?” His resounding answer was “Yes, keep trusting Me!” So we did.
As we sat down to dinner with our hosts that first evening in Minnesota, they told us they knew of a small, church nearby that was without a pastor. The church owned a parsonage and they thought maybe the church would let us stay there while they searched for a pastor.
Our hosts called the elders of the church and we met. They agreed that because we were missionaries, we could live in the church parsonage. One of the elders of the church, Claire Brunkow, graciously offered to help us unload our truck as we moved in.
He saw our handmade furniture and asked if I had built it. I told him I had, and he immediately offered me a job working with him in his piano repair business. I accepted! Within three days of our arrival, God had provided a beautiful home for us and a job.
I had fun working with Claire learning how to tune and repair pianos. Claire was fun to work with and we thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company. Also, a few weeks after moving into the parsonage, the church offered me the job as their pastor. I accepted! It was a small church and a part-time position, so while I attended college full-time, I also worked both jobs.
God provided for us so abundantly and thoroughly! But please don’t chalk this up to any great faith on our part. Like the 10 lepers, we simply took Jesus at His word, obeyed Him and He provided.
Please praise God with us for His faithfulness and love! You can trust Him no matter what. And if He asks you to do something that stretches your faith, do as the lepers did. Trust Jesus and obey Him!
©2019 Rob Fischer