When God called me to be still…
Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God…” … When I first heard of this verse, I thought that it’s just a call to rest, to find peace in the presence of our loving God amidst the ‘turbulence’ surrounding us. And hearing that verse, I got intrigue… what’s the context? What is it about being still and knowing God? So I finally sat down and meditated on the whole verse, with the second part which says, “… I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.” And I knew right there and then that God was making a promise that I’d be seeing Him being ‘exalted among the nations and in the whole earth’ and that ‘His glory shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.’ My question then was “how?”.
During that time, I still wasn’t aware of the implications, but I started praying for other countries and that God would send out missionaries to reach out to people who haven’t heard of the gospel, who doesn’t know of the God who loves them and gave Himself for them. God has been putting in my heart the desire to see Him exalted among nations. And how is he to be exalted? By making Him known among the nations.
Through attending the Condensed World Mission Course (CWMC), which is being conducted by Asian Center for Missions (ACM), I learned that the biblical concept for nations does not mean countries rather it means ethnic group (or the Greek word “ethnos”) – a group of people with distinct culture, customs, traditions AND language or dialect. And according to joshuaproject.net, there are 15,975 people groups around the world and out of this, 6,434 are still unreached.
Why unreached, you may ask? They are unreached because they don’t have any access to the gospel whatsoever, missionaries couldn’t share to them because of language barrier and there is no church among them.
When I went to China last summer of 2005 joining PBTS’ Asia Vision – Short-term Mission, I was able to witness the Han Chinese – a nation totally different from my own – praising and worshiping God. God was being exalted. With that experience, I knew it wouldn’t be the first and the last time I’d see God being worshipped by other nation. Now I know why I had to be left behind in Kuala Lumpur and stay there for three days more by myself while everyone else who went with me to China were already going back to the Philippines. The reason was for me to witness the Koreans, another nation, worshipping and exalting God in their own tongue.
And this year, just more than a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go to Davao City to visit the Matigsalug tribe as part of our local exposure trip for the Missionary Training Program (MTP) with ACM. And once again, God impressed to me or reminded me of His promise – He will be exalted among the nations; He will be exalted in the earth.
We, the trainees of batch 18, exalted Him first when we received the gifts from our sponsors, secular companies they may be – half a million worth of shampoos and conditioners from Unilever; two boxes of noodles from Nestle; a box of trousers, shirts and pens almost enough for the villagers we were about to visit from Universal Robina and 300 pieces of toothbrushes for children from one of my batchmate’s mother.
God was being exalted while the MTP batch 18, together with four contingents coming from Tribal Missions Foundation International (TMFI), gazed at mountain tops covered with fog and listening to the music of Casting Crowns. He was being exalted while we endure the 6-hour trek crossing 2 ½ mountain ranges, six streams (or more) and a river as we sing praises to Him. He was being exalted as we trudged uphill with the noonday sun shining brightly, drops of sweat drenching our shirts and some almost saw ‘stars’ at midday while we still sing “Yes, Lord! Yes, Lord! Yes, yes, Lord!”. God was being exalted still even as we sleep for three nights in our sleeping bags, only ¾ of the ladies’ quarters being covered, the guys’ not covered at all, fog was all around us and we were still able to sleep peacefully.
God was being exalted among the Matigsalug in Sitio Kabalantian, the first village we visited as children in barefoot sung ‘One Way’, ‘Mahal na Mahal Kita Panginoon’ and other praise songs in Matigsalug and Cebuano language. There, we enjoyed the hospitality of the people lead by their village chieftain, Datu Buwaya – a man who killed many NPAs in the past but was now renewed by God. He even had a pig butchered for us as a show of his appreciation for the team.
During their worship service, I was awed by the passionate way the villagers are worshipping God in their own tongue. The ACM and TMFI contingents couldn’t helped but tear in overwhelming joy as we witness how God was being exalted in that place – the villagers were singing praises to God in Matigsalug and Cebuano language, adults or children alike. Actually, because I suffered a minor cut on both my ankles and it really was painful, my eyes were misty and were about to cry yet suppressed it for I was about to share bible stories to the children that time. But when I went out to see and join their worship service, there was nothing more I could do but to cry, not because of the pain I was feeling, but because of great joy in seeing the people lifting up their voices in adoration and praise to our Almighty Father. We may not have the same culture and we don’t speak the same language, but we worshipped God in the same Spirit and in the same passion.
On our fourth day in the mountains, God was again exalted as we were privileged to witness eleven (11) villagers obeyed Him through water baptism, a first in the 13 years of TMFI ministering to tribes.
When we were about to arrived at Sitio Malikongkong, the second of the two villages we visited, we received news about the death of a 6-month pregnant woman due to hypertension. In the midst of this bad news, we continued to exalt God through heart-felt prayers even as we felt the heaviness and darkness lurking in that place due to witchcraft and other evil spirits who, for sure, didn’t want our presence in that village. Spiritual warfare was very real and the Holy Spirit worked among God’s children.
Now, in the middle of such felt darkness and while everyone in the team prays loud, how would you react if God showed you His light shining in that place - a vision that Christ is extending His hand all over the place while He is shining so brightly? What would your reaction be when, despite knowing that mother and unborn child died, God showed to you a vision of a mother nursing her child, a vision not only seen not only by one but two children of God? The visions were given to me! But I didn’t know what to do. On my devotion that night, I was also lead to John 11:25 wherein Jesus said to Martha after Lazarus had been dead four days ago: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” If you were in my shoes that time, what would you do?
One of the pastors in our team and his wife went to see the dead woman and were able to talk to the husband who was a backslidden Christian. He repented of his sins and rededicated his life to Jesus Christ after they had talked to him. The vision of resurrection has been fulfilled.
The pastor’s wife preached the good news to the whole family of the dead and they all accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. The second vision was fulfilled - Jesus Christ actually came in Sitio Malikongkong that very night. Everyone’s rejoicing and praising God.
The following day, we were trying so hard to talk to a 5-year old malnourished girl, asking her name and all, but she wouldn’t answer. She’s so thin and small for her age. Try as we did to communicate with her but she just stared at us and wouldn’t even make any sound from her lips or reactions at all. During our morning devotion, maybe finally giving up into making her talk, I decided to carry Ading (that’s her name) in my lap and just hugged her with my jacket on (because it was so chilly and foggy that morning). Moments later, I was amazed for she was finally easing up, even trying to dance with me. Then and there, God made me realize that, I may be a tagalog/ilocano speaker and she a matigsalug, there is a language that everyone can understand – that is the language of love which, I believe God wanted His children to communicate to everyone in the world.
During the day, the team was so busy doing medical mission and community services, it seems the memory of the previous day had been set aside if not totally forgotten and since there seems to be answers for everything that happened. As for me who received the vision and the verse, I was still not at peace for I was looking for literal fulfillment of the vision or at least struggling with God on what He really wanted me to do. But in this situation, God reminded me of the verse once again, the verse which I claimed as my life verse, the verse that has been teaching me over and over again to trust in Him in everything because He is in control, the verse that gives me peace whenever I hear or being reminded of it though I may not see answers yet, the verse which says, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.” And I believe God would want me to see Him being exalted among nations, in their own native tongue. He had already given me the privilege of witnessing three other nations different from my own worshipping and glorifying Him in their own language. And I praise Him now for I would be witnessing more through translating the Bible or through many other mission works. All I need to do is to be still and know Him more. The Lord Almighty whom I serve and love is God!
How about you? How would you want to see God exalted? Would you also want a first hand experience of witnessing other nations exalting Him? There are still 6,434 unreached people groups in the world, what would you do?
To the praise and glory of His name!
ang susundin ko (kahit gusto ko ng umuwi...) 
Well, sabi nga ni PA. Nothing can stop God in His plans for us...
