24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
2 Corinthians 11:24-28 (ESV)
On March 12, 1812, the long building housing William Carey’s translation work burned to the ground in Serampore, India. Lost in the fire were, among other works, a Kararnese New Testament, Bengali and Sanskirt dictionaries, much of a Punjabi grammar, hundreds of reams of English paper, and many foreign-language fonts.1 Nevertheless, he reconstituted his workshop and eventually published portions of the Bible in 44 languages and dialects. At his death over 20 years later, he was still teaching and preaching, having recently worked on revisions to his Bengali Bible. Here was a man who knew to get back on his feet in the Lord’s service.
In this respect, as in others, Carey was like Paul, who suffered many setbacks, miseries, and blows – but who also persisted with grace and determination. Surprisingly, though Paul was unsurpassed as an apostle, he suffered harsh criticism from some quarters of the Church, so in 2 Corinthians 11, he answered those trying to discredit him. He said he felt like a fool in boasting about his record (2 Cor. 11:21), but they had driven him to it.
His list of sufferings for the gospel is staggering, as is his resiliency. In verse 25, he mentions a stoning in Lystra, one described in Acts 14:19-22. A closer look at the incident shows that as soon as Paul could stand, he went right back into the city and then later, returned to it a second time on missionary work.
That sort of determination to “keep on keeping on” in the face of tragedy and cruelty is rare in the West today; far too many are prone to over-nurse their wounds, to cultivate their victimhood, and to stand down until they are certain that they are feeling rested and chipper. So the Church can scarcely count on them for help or leadership.
Fortunately, this is not the case in the developing world, where the Church would simply disappear if believers stayed down when beaten down. In the missionary briefing book Operation World,2 one reads that, in Bali, “The cost of discipleship is high, and converts to Christianity often face ostracism, persecution and financial loss”; that, in Pakistan, “a whole Christian village of 30,000 was razed by a Muslim mob”; that, in Sudan, “Deliberate attempts to eliminate a viable Christian presence have been extreme, and have included bombing of Sunday church services… killing of pastors and leaders and a food-for-conversion policy for refugees…” These persecuted believers can readily identify with Paul, and many follow his example.
It is said of U.S. postmen, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Would that all followers of Christ might be so honored, as were circuit-riding preachers of the American frontier, where people remarked, when the weather was miserable, “There’s nobody out today but crows and Methodist preachers.” Despite discomfort, they got back in the saddle – and hit their marks with discipline.
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Endnotes
1 Jim Eliff, “Serampore Sorrows: Finding Courage in Catastrophe,” Bulletin Inserts Website, http://bulletininserts.org/bulletininsert.aspx?bulletininsert_id=12 (accessed January 19, 2015).
2 Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, Operation World: When We Pray God Works, 21st century ed. (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster, 2001).
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