But the Lord said to Gideon . . . (Judg. 7:4)
As a professor of intercultural studies, I decided to take a team of students with me to inner Mongolia. When we started our train ride to go to our destination, the weather was warm and sunny. However, by the end of the ride the clouds had gathered in, heavy rain drops pelted us, and the temperature dropped down to the freezing mark. Perhaps partly due to the change in weather, I became very sick. One of the team members was a nursing student. When she took my temperature, she told the coleader of the trip, “Umfundisi’s temperature is dangerously high. He needs to rest and not exert himself until this fever leaves him.”
For the next two days, while the team was out serving in different villages, I was confined to my bed. There was no hospital to take me to. I was feeling miserable. Some of my students told me later that I was hallucinating and saying dumb things. I felt as if I was going to die.
On the third day of my illness, I remember crying out, “God, I need your help!” I then heard a voice say to me, “Jim, I am the Great Physician. You will be alright. Trust me!” An hour later, my fever broke. In times of crisis or decision-making, hearing the Lord’s voice makes all the difference.
Listen to the Lord, even when what he says defies human logic.
Jim “Umfundisi” Lo is a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, cross-cultural leader, intercessor, and author of several books including Unholiness: Overcoming the Forces That Attack Your Soul (WPH).
© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
