I cut my finger recently. I cut through skin, and nerve. I may have also chipped the bone. The wound is on the middle joint of my left index finger running from the top of the finger to the bottom, about an inch long. It happened quickly with the slip of the knife while I was cutting frozen bread. We bandaged and splinted the finger to prevent it from bending, reopening the wound. When the splint came off a couple of days later, the wound looked good, but the finger did not move. It was stiff and swollen. I started thinking about the physiology of the finger, what might have been injured.
I remembered Psalm 139:14 which says, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.”
I thought about all the parts of that finger which could have been injured by a small slip of a knife. Bone, muscle, cartilage, nerves and tendons, all the parts which make the fingers and hands move in the marvelous ways that God has enabled us to move.
How often do we take for granted the inner workings of the body God has created for us? I studied anatomy and physiology in college many years ago, yet I do not think of the physiology of the hand when I pick up a glass of water to drink, or sit down at the piano to play.
The body of Christ is precisely the same. It says in 1 Cor 12: 14-27 that we are all of one body, but there are many parts of the body. No one part is more important than another part. None can function independently of another. “But now are they many members, yet but one body.” (v20)
How very important every member of the body of Christ is to the functioning of the church and the work of tribal evangelism. Our new school year began in August. Yet we have one family significantly delayed, who would teach in the school. Our school is functioning like the hand with a splinted finger. We are making do with what we have available, but not functioning fully.
If we are not able to supply a solid education for our missionary kids, families will have to move from the tribe, perhaps even leave the field.
At first glance the mission school may not seem to be an important role in the scope of tribal evangelism. But in light of the disruption to the work when parents are forced to leave the tribe because of their children’s education, we can easily see how vital that role truly is.
PLEASE PRAY that we will be able to fill teacher’s role for grades 4 – 6.
One final word: my finger is fully functional, the wound is healing. But I am truly thankful to the Lord because I realized how severe this injury could have been.