February Update

Greetings from Karamoja! Once again, an update is way overdue. I promised to try to do better and I have failed. So you are not surprised to hear that I continue to be a great sinner saved only by the grace of Christ. I am thankful that God always keeps all of His promises and always according to His perfect timing!

Amazingly, He has worked even in the lives of such great sinners to fulfill His covenant promises. We see this in the life of Jacob which we have been studying in the village of Nariko. There has been enthusiastic interaction around the word there for which I am thankful. One old man named Yoana Loxo is present every week with the Bible we gave him in his hand together with a clear plastic bag in which he saves copies of each story we provide.

So Yoana heard about Laban surprising Jacob by giving him Leah, a bride he did not expect. Rachel was added next. It wasn’t long before Jacob had gone from no wives to four. It was encouraging to hear Yoana ask how this could happen when God has commanded marriage to be between one man and one wife. Of course, there is much more than just polygamy in the Jacob story. It is full of examples of human depravity. There was the deceit. There was the sad failure to love a wife. There was the bitter jealousy and quarreling between rival wives and sisters. What a royally dysfunctional family! Yet, in all of this mess, God was at work wonderfully fulfilling His promise to Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham, to make of his descendants a great nation. Jacob’s sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. From that nation came the savior of the world. Truly, God’s power and grace triumphs over sin.

Yoana correctly understood that this does not make the polygamy a good thing. The same love by which God was working even through such sinful actions is a love which compels sinners to leave behind their polygamous ways and all other sins, particular in this new covenant age of greater grace and fulfillment of God’s covenant promises. Yet it surely reminds us that no matter how great our sins may be, God’s grace in Jesus, the son of Abraham, is far far greater. So we are thankful that among folks like our friend Yoana in Nariko and throughout Karamoja and the world, God is calling unto Himself children for Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ.

The words of the psalmist are so true – “Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.” (Psalm 111:2) We are privileged to be sharing the great works of our God. Other villages are hearing about the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai where Moses received the law as God powerfully spoke to His people teaching them of His will and of their sin and need for a mediator. Still others are learning about David whom God was preparing for the throne during his time of hiding from wicked King Saul. Christ is the mediator and Christ is the king whose sufferings were his path unto glory! Please pray that, more and more, men, women and children in these villages would come to see the greatness of Christ and turn to him in repentance and faith.

I appreciate your prayers for our brother and translator, Lokwii David, who had pursued a second wife. You remember that he confessed his sin to the church. We forgave him as Christ has forgiven him and has forgiven us all. Praise the Lord! He has also apologized to the parents and to the girl herself and has stated his desire to make things right and henceforth to be faithful to his one wife. The parents of the second wife were already of a mind to take her back and give her to a suitor other than Lokwii. Nonetheless Lowkii will likely be required to make some form of restitution. Though for the time being Lokwii is not carrying out any public Bible teaching duties, we hope to see that happen again. And he is still very much with us even helping us with the translation of our written materials.

We appreciate your prayers for much growth in the grace of Jesus – for Lokwii as well as for me and for all to whom we seek to minister.