In the end, God wins.
We had a representative from Gideons International speak at our church yesterday. You know who the Gideons are, right? They are the guys who stand on the street corner from time to time and hand out the small Bibles with the New Testament. They also are responsible for putting a Bible in every hotel/motel room in the United States.
It’s really kind of a cool story.Two men who were traveling with their jobs ended up staying in a room together one night in 1899 because the motel was overcrowded. They both were Christian men and ended up doing their evening devotional together. At the end of their prayer, they both felt called by God to start a ministry together. They then met with one other man and the Gideons were born.
In 1908, they began placing Bibles in hotel rooms. To date, they have handed out 1.9 billion copies of scripture. Not too bad for a little over a hundred years.
The representative who spoke yesterday shared some success stories. There was one that really caught my attention.
There were two members of the Gideons in a city in Columbia. These two men had never traveled internationally to distribute Bibles and they were a little nervous. Their day was going fabulously as they handed out the Bibles to an eager public. Then one man angrily stomped over to them.
He began yelling that they had no business in his country handing out Bibles. He told them he would show them what he thought about their Bibles. He snatched one and threw it as far as he could. Then he stomped away.
The men were a little intimidated of course. Isn’t that what Satan likes to do? He throws obstacles in our paths to frighten and intimidate us. He tries to get us to turn away from God. These men stood their ground and continued to hand out Bibles. The traffic picked up again and all was well.
They began to smell a strong odor of tar. In the people around them, stood a man almost completely covered in tar from head to foot. He was holding one of their Bibles and a tear was rolling down his cheek. He explained to them that he was working on a roof nearby when a Bible came flying through the air and landed at his feet.
He went on to tell them that his wife had left him and taken their children. He had been contemplating suicide. He asked them to tell him about Jesus. They did and lead him to Christ that day.
Are you getting chills yet? God took one man’s act of hatred and anger and turned it into another man’s salvation. God always has a plan even when we can’t see it. The Bible says, ” The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” Romans 16:20.
God always wins in the end. That’s a promise, one that makes me want to stand up and cheer. What about you?
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂