When the Communists overran
China following the end of World War II, a thousand missionaries with China
Inland Mission (CIM) were trapped behind the Bamboo Curtain. CIM ordered a total
evacuation in January 1951, but was it too late? Communists were not averse to
killing.
Arthur and Wilda Mathews applied for exit visas on
January 3. Their living conditions had deteriorated to a bare kitchen where, in
the corner, Wilda had converted a footlocker into a prayer nook. Days passed
with no action on their requests. Meanwhile citizens were executed on the town's
athletic field every day; from her kitchen Wilda heard the shots. The strain
grew unbearable, and she was overwhelmed by fear.
Sunday, March 21, 1951, was, as she later called it,
Black Easter. Wilda sneaked into an Easter church service, but when she opened
her mouth to sing "He Lives!" No words came out. Returning home, she fell at the
trunk, and her trembling fingers found 2 Chronicles 20: "The battle is not
yours, but God's.... You will not need to fight in this battle. Position
yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O
Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed" (w. 15, 17). Wilda clamped onto
those words, and two weeks later she wrote, "The conflict has been terrible, but
peace and quiet reign now."
Over the next two years, the Mathews family repeatedly
faced dangerous situations, their baby in harm's way, their pantry empty, their
enemies surrounding them. But Arthur and Wilda committed each situation, one
after another, into the Lord's hands. Miraculously, in God's timing, all the CIM
missionaries got out without a single one being martyred, the last being Arthur
Mathews. It was perhaps the greatest exodus since the one in Exodus 14.'
Many times we cannot solve problems, heal hurts,
change circumstances, or win our own battles. We must kneel in prayer, then
stand to see what He will do. We must leave room for God, staying calm and
giving Him time to work.
Robert J. Morgan, The Red Sea Rules. Nashville: Thomas
Nelson Publishers, 2001, p. 55-56.
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