Hope for Your Heart: Finding Strength in Life's Storms (18 page)

Moses, under God’s direction, established laws instructing the people:

• to never eat animals that died of natural causes (Lev. 7:24),
  
• to destroy contaminated objects (Lev. 11:33; 15:12),
  
• to isolate or quarantine those who are sick (Lev. 13:4),
  
• to burn used dressings and contaminated clothing (Lev. 13:47–54),
  
• to rid a house of any mold (Lev. 14:34–47),
  
• to wash clothes and bathe after touching someone with an infection or touching the bed of someone with an infection (Lev. 15:11).
  

Today the public health policies of Moses are totally compatible with public health policies of the modern, civilized world.

As you can see, there are many fields of study in which the Bible shed insight and wisdom years,
even centuries
, before scientists or doctors made their discoveries. Not only has the Bible proved time and time again to be true and reliable, it stands out as a Book like no other because it is the very Word of God!

As the apostle Paul made clear, one reason God gave us His Word is so that we might have
hope
, hope in the guaranteed assurances of His promises. Romans 15:4 says, “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have
hope
.”

9. Oceanography: Water Paths/Ocean Currents Exist in the Sea
¹⁵

For thousands of years scientists knew nothing about sea lanes and ocean currents. Therefore they drew no water charts for sailing lanes.

Then in 1839, when Dr. Matthew Maury, the father of modern oceanography, became ill, his son began reading the Bible to him. Astonished at hearing Psalm 8:8, he asked to hear it again. As a result he spent several years charting the paths of the seas—the currents of the ocean—which became the basis for the first textbook of modern oceanography,
Physical Geography of the Sea
.

However, this scientific truth had been revealed in the Bible much earlier by David in the tenth century b.c., referring to “all that swim the paths of the seas” (Ps. 8:8).

10. Hydrology: Precipitation and Evaporation Cycles Exist
¹⁶

For thousands of years scientists understood the reality of rain clouds that resulted in rain. Yet hydrology—the science of water and the water cycle—was not understood. Unknown was the hydrologic cycle. Then in the first century b.c. Marcus Vitruvius described a philosophical theory—though limited—in which rain falling in the mountains infiltrated the earth’s surface, which led to streams and springs in the lowlands.

But it wasn’t until the fifteenth century that Leonardo da Vinci presented an accurate picture of the hydrologic cycle. In essence, water on earth moves in a cycle through different pathways and at different rates. For example, the evaporation of ocean water produces clouds—clouds drifting over land produce rain—rainwater flows into lakes and rivers—water in lakes and rivers evaporates back into the atmosphere or eventually flows back into the ocean. And the cycle continues.

However, this scientific cycle had been revealed in the Bible approximately three thousand years prior. The book of Job explains the work of God in this way: “He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. . . . He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind. . . . Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?” (Job 26:8; 36:27–28; 38:25–27). The “who” in the last sentence is the One who invented the cycle in the first place—the One who actually recorded the cycle in His Word.

11. Genetics: All Living Things Reproduce After Their Own Kind
¹⁷

In 350 b.c. Aristotle presented the theory of spontaneous generation (life appears out of nonlife)—a theory that the scientific world accepted for thousands of years. Scientists theorized that frogs originated out of slime pools and insects out of rot. Then in 1862, with the invention of the microscope, Louis Pasteur totally disproved spontaneous generation. And three years later Johann Mendel developed what is now the universal law of heredity.

However, thousands of years earlier, in the fifteenth century b.c., the first book of the Bible presented the same law of heredity, verifying that all living things were created according to their own kind. “God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind” (Gen. 1:21).

12. Epidemiology: Public Sanitation Is Essential

Today no civilized society would allow human dung to be dumped into our public streets. Yet until the end of the eighteenth century body waste lined filthy, unpaved streets. As a result, putrefied stenches hovered over towns like dark, ominous clouds ready to rain their terror of death.

The doctors of that day continually faced deadly epidemics of cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and similar illnesses. The medical doctor who wrote the book
None of These Diseases
states, “It was a hey-day for flies as they bred in the filth and spread intestinal disease that killed millions.”
¹⁸

However, if they had merely applied a short, biblical remedy given some three thousand years earlier in the book of Deuteronomy, most of the catastrophic diseases, epidemics, and plagues would have been eradicated. “Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement” (Deut. 23:12–13).

When the book
God’s Smuggler
was published in 1968, Brother Andrew became a household name overnight in the Christian community. The book chronicles his adventures while ministering to churches behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War.

As the shadow of Communism fell over Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, believers were frequently persecuted. They lost their jobs, their homes, and their families. They suffered physical abuse, imprisonment, and even death.

Andrew, the son of a poor Dutch blacksmith, knew he had to help. He quickly learned there was one thing the besieged believers needed above all else—Bibles! They needed the living, life-changing Word of God.

Many times over the years Brother Andrew himself risked arrest, imprisonment, and beatings to bring the comforting light of God’s Word to the suffering church in some of the world’s most “closed” countries. To him, the Bible was far more than a book. It was a living promise and a tangible expression of God’s plan for us. He wrote:

The message we proclaim is one of victory through Christ. We win! Because we know what is going to happen, the rest and assurance we radiate will attract many people to hear our proclamation. But that means we must walk closely with God and stay grounded in His Word.
¹⁹

Delivering Bibles to hope-starved people became Brother Andrew’s calling. Yet his story really began years earlier when
he
was the one in desperate need of hope.

At seventeen, Andrew suffered a common ailment among young men—restless boredom. He dreamed of adventure, travel, and excitement and longed to leave rural Holland for good. He decided his best chance was to join the Dutch army, which was then waging a bloody war against insurgents in Indonesia.

Before he left, Andrew’s mother gave him a small Bible. He dutifully promised to read it but then buried it at the bottom of his duffel bag. Shortly thereafter, he was sent to fight the Communists.

Once in Indonesia, his idealistic fervor quickly wore off. The brutal reality of routine killing was not what he’d imagined. In response he hardened his heart and became daring in combat to the point of recklessness. He fought hard, drank hard, and fully expected to die in the jungle.

But God had other plans. Andrew was shot in the ankle, bringing his career as a soldier to an abrupt end. He narrowly escaped amputation but learned he’d probably be in pain for the rest of his life and would never walk again without a cane.

He later recalled, “I had always seen myself going out in a blaze of contempt for the whole human farce. But to live—and crippled!—that was the meanest fate of all. My great adventure had failed.”
²⁰

During this dark time, a fellow soldier found Andrew’s forgotten Bible among his things and brought it to him at the hospital. In two and a half years, Andrew had never once opened it. Even then it lay on the table beside his bed, untouched.

One day he asked a nun who cared for him why she and the other sisters were so cheerful all the time. He vividly remembers her delightful answer: “Why, Andrew, you ought to know the answer to that . . . It’s the love of Christ.”

When she said it, her eyes sparkled, and I knew without question that for her this was the whole answer.

“But you’re teasing me, aren’t you,” she said, tapping the well-worn little Bible where it still lay on the bedside table. “You’ve got the answer right here.”
²¹

Finally, out of boredom more than curiosity, Andrew began to read the Bible. He read the Gospels straight through, “catching dimly their terrible significance,” as he said.
Could all this really be true?
he wondered.

As Andrew lay in bed, he devoured God’s Word. Questions poured out of him in a flood of doubt mingled with a hunger for truth. Many months later, back in Holland, Brother Andrew completed the spiritual journey he had begun in the Indonesian jungle. Yes, he concluded, the Bible was true—every single word of it.

It was a momentous decision that would affect thousands of people whose only source of light were the Bibles Brother Andrew loaded into his aging Volkswagen and smuggled across dangerous borders. Brother Andrew brought the light of God’s Word to the darkest corners of the world.

Think back to Carlsbad Caverns. There you stand, alone in the darkness, with no clue how to retrace your steps to safety. If a lamp was suddenly handed to you, how would that change the circumstances in your subterranean setting? What would the light do? It would
overcome
the darkness and illuminate your way to safety. It would give you hope and end your desperation.

In 1968 the Soviet army invaded Czechoslovakia. While a stream of refugees waited at the border to get out of the country, Brother Andrew packed his car with
Russian
Bibles and headed in. He gave them to Czech believers who ran a terrible risk by passing them out to Soviet soldiers, along with the message, “God is love, and God loves you.” Brother Andrew later recalled:

I later received reports from several cities that within ten days, the Soviet leaders had to recall and replace the entire Russian occupation army! They had become completely demoralized. I have to believe that the love and the Bibles shared by Christians played some part in their withdrawal. After all, the Bible, the Word of God, changes people. And changed people change the situations around them.
²²

You would be hard-pressed to come up with a better picture of light overcoming darkness, of the love of Christ overcoming the lust for power and oppression. Just as light would show you the way out of the Carlsbad Caverns, there is no pitch-black circumstance in your life upon which God’s Word cannot shine and restore hope.

Imagine you’ve planned a trip to a part of the country you’ve never visited before. You hear it is a tropical paradise . . . beautiful . . . bountiful . . . well worth the journey. However, between here and there lies a vast, treacherous area with no landmarks for guidance. Deadly obstacles are hidden from view. Severe storms can throw you off course. Countless others have set out before you . . . never to return.

But the most significant problem is this: You have no map! Nonetheless, if you are determined to go, consider this: How much would you be willing to pay for an accurate map? What would you give to pinpoint where to find the pitfalls? What would it be worth to know which paths lead to safety and which to disaster? What would you give to get firsthand advice from those who have gone before you?

I already know the answer:
a lot
!

Now you have a small taste of what it was like to be a European mariner at the dawn of the Age of Discovery. Standing on shore and contemplating sailing out into the churning, choppy waters of the Atlantic Ocean had to have been a harrowing experience. Any shred of tangible information was treated like a golden key for unlocking the great mysteries of the deep.

Even as early as the sixth century b.c., when Darius the Great ruled the Persian Empire, mariners were recording details about landmarks and coastal features in written records called “
peripli
.” Sea charts, which historians of cartography consider the first true maps ever made, did not appear until the 1300s when captains “first laid down any considerable part of the earth’s surface from close, continuous, and what we may call scientific observation.”
²³
They became known by their Italian name,
portolano
or “harbor guides.” These early maps preserved the collective experience of generations of sailors, for the benefit of all.

Today maps are as valuable as ever. Modern mariners have volumes of information at their disposal—detailed data about depth levels, currents, weather histories, and forecasts. No sea captain would venture an ocean voyage without the best maps available.

Facing the future for your own life could feel like looking out on a vast expanse, where tropical storms and hurricanes can stir up at a moment’s notice. What hope is there that you will safely reach the other side to experience the abundant life God has promised? The answer is, none . . . if you set sail without the map that He has already provided for your journey. Proverbs 16:25 (esv) says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

We have at our disposal the inspired written testimony of those who have gone before us. Their words, inspired by the Spirit of God, identify the treacherous rocks beneath the surface and point the way to the sometimes difficult route we must take, but it’s a route that is always right.

At times we find ourselves at the crossroads, and we want to go the right way. This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6:16).

When you are searching for hope, look no further than the map of God’s Word. The insights and inspiration offered there will lead you to the abundant life Jesus promised. Let this be your prayer: “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my
hope
is in you all day long” (Ps. 25:5).

Without His map, you not only lose your way in life, but you will also lose something vital along the way:
hope
.