Trembling at God's Word

One characteristic of the faithful mission worker is found in Isa 66:2

Isa 66:2 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

The faithful mission worker trembles at the Word of God. He or she goes to the Bible often and is careful not only to find direction and intimacy with God there, but also to NOT make the Bible say what he or she wants it to say. Faithful handling of God’s word is as much about teaching clearly what the Bible does say, as it is about leaving freedom where the Bible leaves freedom. This means we search the Scriptures and study them so that we don’t add to their teaching.

In mission work, it is often fine to do things that we don’t find in Scripture - things like writing reports, or playing a guitar during church singing times, or meeting regularly for accountability every Tuesday morning with other believers. These are good and wise things we can do that are based upon other things the Bible tells us to do. We will just want to be careful not to teach these or other forms of activities as exactly found in Scripture.

When Joshua led the people of Israel into the land God promised to give them, his mission that God gave him to accomplish, he was given stern instructions. God spoke to him in the opening chapter of Joshua:

Josh 1:6-8 “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

In 1 Samuel, during the days when Eli was judging Israel, the ark of the covenant was captured because Eli’s wicked sons took the ark into battle. They were defeated and killed and the ark was captured by the Philistines. Though the Philistines captured the ark from Israel, the Philistines were unable to keep the ark from God - he punished them until they let the ark go and it returned to Israel and was kept at the house of a man named Abinidab for a long time.

Until David was made king over Israel. Then in 2 Sam 6, David took 30,000 men to Abinidab to celebrate and worship and bring the ark. Abinidab and his sons put the ark on a cart and were driving the cart to return it home. This situation was strictly counter to how the Bible had directed the ark and other furnishings of his sanctuary be carried.

NUM 4 “And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.”

One of Abinidab’s sons, Uzzah, was a follower of God, but he was likely not of the correct tribe to carry the ark or even to look at it. When the oxen stumbled, Uzzahs disregard for Gods word proved fatal. He thought that the ark was going to fall out of the cart so he reached out his hand and touched it. Immediately the Lord struck him dead. Uzzah made the mistake of not treating the ark according to how God had told the people of Israel to treat it. He did not tremble at God’s word and suffered a devastating consequence as a result.

As you help prepare others for full-time mission work or when you are considering who to partner with in mission, prepare and partner only with those who show their faithfulness by how they tremble at the Word of God.