Time to grow

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some measure slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9

In my 7th and 8th-grade summers, my grandfather took me to a camp affiliated with the "Oriental Missionary Society," of which he was a trustee. I spent the week with kids who’d grown up in exotic places around the world. Their life experiences intrigued me, the things they ate grossed me out, but I daydreamed of what life was like in distant lands and promised myself I’d see it one day. Seeds planted in childhood take time to grow.

I remember the story of William Marcus Young, a young missionary who ventured into the mountain jungles of Southeast Asia, going places where few Westerners had ever ventured. There was no way of him knowing what God had been preparing for generations. This story is better chronicled in Don Richardson’s excellent book Eternity In Their Hearts for any interested.

Through the oral traditions, ancestral memories, and ancient teachings of tribal wise men, they had preserved glimpses of a coming messenger bringing a lost Book of God, and that it would reveal the way to the one God. Some of these tribes even anticipated the arrival of a white man dressed in white telling of such things. These jungle peoples remained unreached by the gospel yet were actively waiting for what they could not fully understand.

William just wanted to be useful to God. A man of prayer, believing that God rewarded those who sought Him earnestly, cried out “Lord use me to win thousands of souls for you.”

Young arrived in Burma, where he devoted himself to language study and became a fluent preacher in Burmese. Eventually, he was sent to the remote mountainous borderlands near Kengtung. There, he would visit the market and begin teaching any who would listen about the Ten Commandments. His western wear of a white linen suit madehim stand out, and when he lifted his Bible overhead the sun made the pages shine white.

Lahu tribesmen were visiting the market that day and were captivated by what they saw and heard. “Could this be the promised one?” Excitedly, they gathered around Young and pleaded with him to come to their villages and teach them the Book of God. For they had built meeting houses in anticipation of the arrival of the man in white with the book of God.

Amazingly, God’s preparation extended far beyond the Lahu. Many miles away lived the Wa people, known for their ritual headhunting. Among them was a wise man named Pu Chan, who had received a revelation that a messenger carrying God’s book would come. He urged his people to abandon their violent practices, warning that their ways might prevent the promised messenger from coming to them.

His followers became known as the “Wa of the Changed Hearts.” In a society where ritual headhunting had long been practiced, their decision to abandon violence signaled a profound change.

With particular urgency, Pu Chan blessed a white mountain pony and sent some of his most faithful elders to follow it. He said “it would guide them to the white man with the book of God. When you find him, have him return riding the pony with the book of God.” 

After weeks of traversing jungle covered mountains and deep valleys the pony led them to a house outside the town Kengtung. Walking around to the back of the house, the pony stopped at the opening of a well. The puzzled elders peered down the hole and there, looking up at them, was William Marcus Young, digging the well.

 “Can you tell us about the Book of God?” “Yes, indeed.” Young replied. Overjoyed, they urged him to retrieve the book, mount the pony, and accompany them on the long journey home.

But Young was already overwhelmed by the growing Lahu church. During that first year, he baptized 1,500 people and spent long hours teaching and strengthening the new believers. Unable to leave, he made the Wa delegation a promise:

“If I cannot come to you, my sons will come. If my sons cannot come, my grandsons will come. And if my grandsons cannot come, my great-grandsons will come to you.” The Wa never forgot his words. In the intervening years, Lahu believers carried the gospel to them, helping fulfill the promise Young had made beside the well.

More than a century later, that promise reached its remarkable fulfillment when a descendant of William Marcus Young came to serve among the Wa. Marcus Young, William’s grandson returned to the region and translated the Bible into the Wa people’s heart language, though he was unaware of the promise his grandfather had made.

Thousands of people have since found new life in Jesus. The God they had glimpsed through their traditions and the revelations of their wise men was now speaking to them through His Word in their own language. Seeds planted today may take decades to grow and promises spoken in faith may outlive those who first receive them.

What promises are you living in?