Trust God like Elizabeth Elliot
Elisabeth Howard was born on December 21, 1926, to missionary parents in Brussels, Belgium. She grew up in the United States and attended Wheaton College, intent on becoming a Bible translator.
In April 1952, Elisabeth set out for the mission field and moved to Quito, Ecuador.
On October 8, 1953, she married a man named Jim Elliot, a fellow missionary in Ecuador whom she had first met and grown close to in college.
In the first days of January 1956, Jim left Elisabeth and their ten month old daughter, Valerie, to set out with four other men on a mission to make contact with the Waodani people. The Waodani people were fiercely independent and had had little contact with the outside world. They had a reputation among neighboring indigenous groups as a violent people.
On January 8, a Sunday, Waodani men killed Jim and the four other missionaries with him. They were killed on a beach where just days earlier they had an encouraging first encounter with the Waodani.
Two years later, Elisabeth, her daughter Valerie, and Rachel Saint, the sister of one of the missionaries killed with Jim, went to live with the Waodani people at the invitation of a woman named Dayuma. Dayuma had fled the violence of her people years earlier, met the missionaries and became the first known Christian among the Waodani. Following the deaths of the five missionaries, she moved back to the Waodani. According to the mercy of our God, through the witness of Elisabeth, Rachel, and Dayuma, a number of the Waodani became believers, including a man named Mincaye, who took part in the killing of the missionaries.
When I think about this story, I first praise God. What an incredible testament to his grace! But when I linger on it, I feel anxiety and even fear. I am fearful for Jim and the other men. I am fearful for Elisabeth and her baby girl. I am fearful for Dayuma on her return to the Waodani and I am fearful for Elisabeth, Rachel and Valerie as they go to live with the people who killed their loved ones. These missionaries must have been fearless. They must be built differently than I am, right?
From what I know of Elisabeth Elliot, I am not sure she would agree. She is quoted years later as saying,
“Sometimes when we are called to obey, the fear does not subside and we are expected to move against the fear. One must choose to do it afraid.”
Our sister, Elisabeth, was a woman saturated by the Word of God, who believed with everything in her that God was telling the truth when he said things like,
“…fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41)
At an impasse of obedience to God’s word and our personal impulses, we must yield to God’s word. If the choice is between obeying and entrusting ourselves to the one who loves us most or waiting for our feelings to catch up to what we know to be true, we have to choose to obey.
There will be times when God calls to us through his word and after seeking wise counsel and careful discernment we believe the call to be true, but we are not settled on the matter. Perhaps even afraid. In those times, the weight of God’s word must carry the day. We must do it afraid.
The exhortation for today, Cities Church, is this: In whatever God may have for you in 2023, trust his word. Trust his word when your mind doubts. Trust his word when your heart feels unsettled. Trust his word when your nerve fails.
This reminds us of our need to confess our sins.
Father, fear and worship belong only to you and yet we fear and worship so many things apart from you. We fear losing status because we worship the praise of man. We fear new ventures and new places because we worship familiarity and comfort. We fear death because we worship security. Our fears reveal the unworthiness of worshiping such idols. Our worship is disordered and our fears follow. This is sin. Forgive us for this and the other sins we confess to you now in this moment of silence.
Father, your word is the lamp unto our feet, the light that leads us to rightly worship and to rightly fear you, the one true God. And our fear of you is the beginning of wisdom. Thank you for sending your Son to save us from our disordered worship and our misplaced fears. Thank you for Jesus’ obedience in place of our failure, obedience even to a cross. And thank you for the resurrection that confirms that every word and promise of yours is true and to be trusted! We do not fear the loss of status, for the Son of God calls us sister and brother. We do not fear new places because you have promised to go with us. We do not even fear death because we know that whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish but will have eternal life! Help us, O God, to live in the light of your word.
In Jesus’ name, amen.