Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Perseverance”
Our Bible verse for today: “We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Get up, dust yourself off, and get moving again.”
The life story of William Carey is inspiring for many reasons. He is commonly thought of as the father of modern missions. Born and raised in England in the early 1800s, he had a dream to take the Gospel to India and to translate the Bible into as many of the Indian languages and dialects as he could in his lifetime. That is what he did but it certainly wasn’t easy and he experienced numerous setbacks.
One major setback occurred in March of 1832. Carey had established a large print shop in the city of Serampore in northern India. For many years he and his team had labored day and night to translate the Bible into Indian languages so they could then print and distribute Bibles to the people in their native tongues.
However on the evening of March 11, 1832, while Carey was away on a trip preaching and teaching in another part of India, late at night one of his assistants smelled smoke. By the time he got to the print shop the structure was engulfed in flames. Everything was lost. All of the translation work; printer typesets for fourteen different languages; fifty-five thousand printed sheets; and much more. Years of work reduced to ashes.
When Carey received word of the disaster he grieved for a very short time but then he wrote this: “The loss is heavy but as traveling a road the second time is usually done with greater ease and certainty than the first time, so I trust the work will lose nothing of real value. We are not discouraged; indeed the work is already begun again in every language. We are cast down but not in despair.”
When word of the disaster and of Carey’s response to it reached England, it caused a sensation. All the major newspapers carried the story. It was the talk of London. Huge sums of money were raised to support Carey’s work; skilled volunteers who were experts in the Biblical languages traveled to India to assist Carey. Within twenty years Carey’s translation and printing ministry produced many thousands of Bibles and New Testaments – not in just fourteen languages but in forty-four languages.
We all experience setbacks in life, some of them significant and severe. But like William Carey demonstrated, there’s nothing to gain from wallowing in grief and regret. Oh, grief and regret have their place, for a short time, but then it’s time to get-up, dust yourself off, and get moving again.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 