On Sunday I read to the children an incident in the life of Hudson Taylor.
As a way to build his spiritual muscles to depend on God before he went to China as a missionary, Taylor decided to ask God to remind his boss to pay him, rather than Taylor himself reminding his boss, who often was too busy to remember to pay him on time.
Payday came and passed, and still the boss did not remember to pay Taylor. He had no money to pay his rent due the next day. For the sake of his landlady, should Taylor remind his boss?
It would make sense to simply remind his boss. His boss even told Taylor previously to remind him.
Much of our life does not depend on prayer for God to act. We can seemingly do everything on our own to produce the desired results. We do not often find ourselves in situations where we have to just totally depend on God. Our bank accounts have enough cushion, we have health insurance and medical technology, we have friends to call on for help when needed. While all these are blessings, there is hardly any risk when we pray.
Let’s say I have a big test coming up. I pray for God’s help, but of course I also do my due diligence and study as much as I can. My dependence on God is indirect, that He gives me the time and brain to study. That I fully acknowledge. But the grade I get is a result of my efforts, not God supernaturally giving me a grade that I did not deserve. I am not suggesting that we don’t study and test God to give us a good grade.
What I liked about that incident of Hudson Taylor is that the result can only come from God. Taylor wanted to see God move men as a result of prayer. He knew that in China he would have no one to depend on except God. He was not so much testing God as he was testing his own prayer life and dependence on God alone.
And the end of the story is that God came through. Without a reminder from Taylor, the boss remembered to pay him, the very night that his rent was due, not a day early, not even an hour early, and God was not late.
Lately I have seen people volunteering to help with children ministry without me asking. Inspired by Hudson Taylor, I am challenged to pray more for God to move people, and I need to pray more for God to move people to fill particular roles in the children department.