Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin

I had been wanting to visit Tranquebar, the place where the first Protestant missionary Ziegenbalg had lived and worked for a long time and the Lord gave me that opportunity in March 2018. Ziegenbalg was born in Germany, on 10 July 1682 to poor but devout Christian parents. Ziegenbalg responded to the King of Denmark’s call for a Christian mission to spread the Gospel in India, and, along with another colleague reached the region of Tranquebar in 1706, thus becoming the first Protestant missionaries to arrive on the Indian sub-continent.

Ziegenbalg died when he was just 36 years old after 12 years of service in a foreign land with a foreign tongue. Considering that short span, his achievements are truly great. Ziegenbalg learned Tamil and became a Tamil scholar writing numerous texts in Tamil, for dissemination among Hindus. He started the translation of the New Testament in 1708 and completed it in 1711, Then he started on the Old Testament and at the time of his death he had completed up to the book of Ruth. He wrote a book on Tamil grammar also. His tombstone reads “Friend of the poor, Tamil scholar, pioneer Evangelist, spent himself in his Master’s service and died in harness on Feb 23, 1719”

I was truly challenged by Ziegenbalg’s commitment and zeal for ministry. Here I am, a fifth-generation Christian, saved by His grace in my 17thyear, but have not done anything significant for the Lord all these years. It brought to my mind the writing on the wall in Belshazzar’s court, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin… You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting” (Dan 5:27). All my life I have tried doing many things for the Lord but truly that is just not enough considering how much I have been forgiven and given. There is always a time of reckoning for each one of us! It is really very sad to realize how strife and conflict in our lives take our focus from accomplishing the purpose of God to just focusing on our own pain!

My friend, our God is not only a God of second chances but He is a God of many chances. Today let us bring all our pain and suffering to the foot of the Cross and leave it there so that we can serve God with all that we are and we will not be found wanting!

Categories: Weekly DevotionalsAuthor: Hephzibah StephenDate: 1st May 2018 Share: newsletterDisplay date: 2nd May 2018

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