On a recent mission trip to Malawi, Africa, I learned three lessons about God’s plan for our lives. Things didn’t go how I expected at times, but God’s agenda was better than mine. I hope these lessons encourage you when God’s plan seems different than yours.
https://youtu.be/EG7D-ivgWLY
On a recent mission trip to Malawi, Africa, I learned three lessons about God’s plan for our lives. God’s agenda was better than mine.
Table of contentsGod’s Plan for Our Lives Is Better than OursGod’s Plan Often Involves Wondering What’s NextOur Tuesday Night GroupStepping Out in Faith Isn't License to Be FoolishSharing the Gospel with Another SchoolGod’s Plan Requires Staying MarriedDave and Naida's Gomes's TestimonyAndy and Lisa Langdon's Testimony
When we took the trip to Malawi, there were two teams. I was on the teaching team that spoke at the Sola Scriptura Bible College the first week and the pastor's conference the second week. One particular day began very frustratingly. I am not one to blame everything on spiritual warfare or see the devil or a demon behind everything bad that happens. Sometimes, things happen simply because we live in a fallen world. But one morning, it seemed like we had difficulty getting to the Bible college on time. I joked with the teaching team that maybe we had a few Billy Grahams in the Bible college class that the devil didn’t want us to reach. First, we got pulled over:
https://youtu.be/Kqj3cgEIxx4
Then we got pulled over again:
https://youtu.be/56pqTpsupRU
Then we got a flat tire:
https://youtu.be/aKqBCTOYPSc
We broke down on the side of the road and had to wait for someone from the nursery to bring us tools to change the tire. Because we went to the Bible college each day from early morning until late evening, I hadn’t seen much of Malawi, so I decided to walk around. There were some buildings nearby, and I went to check them out.
God’s Plan for Our Lives Is Better than Ours
It turned out to be a school, but all the classes were canceled because it was a holiday. I was walking past the classrooms, expecting them to be empty, but one teacher, Mr. Moya, who you will meet in a moment, decided to have a class that day. I have no idea why he wanted to have class on a holiday, and I have no idea how he got his students to come to class on a holiday, but that’s what happened.
When I walked past his classroom, the students were excited because they saw a white person. I kept walking because I didn’t want to interrupt his class, but then I decided to walk back and see what would happen. The teacher, Mr. Moya, seemed like a serious man who wasn’t easy to read. So, I couldn’t tell how he felt about me at first, but I did get him to smile, which made me happy:
https://youtu.be/GgF2ujFyS9Y
I wanted to stay longer with the class, but I didn’t know if they had the tire changed, and I didn’t want them to wait for me. So, I returned to the truck, but they still didn’t have the tools. So I asked Eddie if he wanted to return to the classroom with me, and he was glad to do so:
https://youtu.be/qwOXPME6MyA
Now, there’s more to the story, but I can only show you so many videos, so let me briefly tell you what happened. Eddie told the class we would return the next day and bring them gospel tracts. When we returned the next day, Andrew and Andrey came with us because they wanted to spend one day at the Bible college. The school was in session, so we had to check in at the principal’s office. When we went to the principal’s office, she seemed glad that we were there and told us we could preach the gospel to other classrooms:
https://youtu.be/Epg7omXz-lc
I couldn’t help thinking that day about how much better God’s plan for our lives is than ours. God orchestrated many things for us. For example, if we didn’t have the flat tire:
I wouldn’t have visited the school.
Eddie wouldn’t have shared the gospel with the class
We wouldn’t have returned the following day to share the gospel again
I wouldn’t have had the idea to visit another school the following week because it went so well the first time. I'll share more about this in a moment.
And, of course, I have no idea why one teacher happened to be having class on a holiday.
God’s plan for our lives was much better than ours!
God’s Plan Often Involves Wondering What’s Next
When Eddie and I returned to the school, I liked how he said, “If the Lord provides an opportunity, let’s do it.” This summarizes what ministry often feels like: we don’t know what will happen next. We simply step out in faith and hope that God will provide an opportunity. It reminds me of Jonathan attacking the Philistines with his armor bearer. Listen to what he said:
1 Samuel 14:6 Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. IT MAY BE THAT THE LORD WILL WORK FOR US, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.”
This is a great example of what we say in ministry: maybe the Lord will work for us. It also made me think of the situation with Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch:
Acts 8:26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
Heading to a desert probably wasn’t attractive, but Philip was willing to do it. He was given step one, but he didn’t know step two. He didn’t know what he was doing or what he was looking for. This is what it means to walk by faith. If we could see the second step, we wouldn’t need faith because faith is what we don’t see:
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
After taking the first step, Philip gets to the second step:
Acts 8:29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
You probably know the rest of the account. Philip preached the gospel to the Ethiopians so he could take it back to Ethiopia. I feel that this is often how ministry works. We don’t know what will happen. We move in a specific direction, and then, hopefully, things open up so we can determine whether to continue in that direction.
Our Tuesday Night Group
A simple example from our lives recently is our Tuesday night group. We said we would do it for a few weeks to see how it would go, but when people kept coming each week, including two or three new people most weeks, we decided to keep it going.
Stepping Out in Faith Isn't License to Be Foolish
But stepping out in faith isn’t a license to be foolish. We should combine faith and wisdom. I think it was unwise for me to go to a place with some drunk guys playing pool:
https://youtu.be/6fcMsZsqB2g
So here’s what happened: he did not want to take a photo with me. He wanted me to take a photo of him. After taking the photo, he told me I had to pay him money. I would have given him money to avoid a problem, but I didn’t have any money. Then the guy sitting on the bench and the other guy in the wife beater walked up and told me to give them money.
Fortunately, I was walking around with a nice man serving as my guide, and he grabbed me and yanked me out of there. Here’s his explanation of what happened:
https://youtu.be/g704DSzv7fA
So here’s my point: step out in faith, but be wise. Share the gospel, but only go in pool halls with drunk people if you’re super convinced God wants you to do that.
Sharing the Gospel with Another School
The following week, there was a day that I didn’t have to go to the pastor's conference. Because sharing at the school before went well, we decided to visit another school. So Johnny, Elsie, and I went out to see if the Lord would work on our behalf. Turns out He would:
https://youtu.be/nu_VlrxUOrs
The administration was thrilled to have us. I thought the principal would let us visit one or two classrooms. But every time we walked out of the classroom, she kept bringing us to the next classroom until we visited every single one.
https://youtu.be/7sRw83pzIII
Here's my son, Johnny, sharing the gospel with a class, which made Katie and me proud:
https://youtu.be/w2izsinq1AY
Another reason I said God’s plan for our lives is better than ours is that the teaching team was only supposed to minister to two groups: about fifty students at the Bible college and fifty pastors at the pastor's conference. We ministered to those two groups, but Mark, Andy and Lisa’s pastor, observed that we also shared the gospel with over 1,000 students.
The wonderful thing about this is it wasn’t our plan to share the gospel with any students, let alone 1,000. But it seemed like God’s plan for our lives because he opened the door for us and gave us the favor to do so.
God’s Plan Requires Staying Married
Marriage was on my mind in Africa for many reasons.
I had to be away from my wife for two and a half weeks, which made me thankful that I rarely have to be away from her.
I was invited to preach at a church on Sunday. I preached on marriage and then had a marriage Q&A at the end of the sermon.
I taught at the pastor's conference, and Andy asked me to teach about marriage because marriages are hurting in Malawi. At the end of those messages, I received many marriage questions.
Nothing showed the weakness of marriages more than these questions. Here are three examples:
First, a pastor asked,
