Adoniram Judson, continued

Well, you will be happy to know that Adoniram Judson did not get killed by the privateers. In fact, he eventually made it the England, where the London Mission Society was not able to help. By the time he made it back to the States, though, people were more interested in missions and the money was available.

Adoniram and Ann Judson left for Burma on February 19, 1810. Actually, they were first heading for India with the plan to somehow get from there to Burma. It was tough, since the East India Company did not want them in India and tried to send them away to either England or America. They managed to escape being deported, however, and finally found passage to Burma (in a round about way), landing in Rangoon on July 13, 1813.

Burma was rough on Adoniram and Ann. They had been told by many people not to throw their lives away on Burma, to find a safer place to minister, that they would die there. The king was known for killing anyone who offended him or who might offend him. The land was wild, the food was strange, the language was difficult to learn. There were dozens of reasons not to go, and when they got there, dozens of reasons to leave. It was months before they knew the language well enough to speak to people. It took 3 years, 7 months before they received their first letter from home. Their children died. Other missionaries died. The children of other missionaries died. Eventually, England and Burma went to war and all foreigners were suspect. Adoniram spent months in prison, part of it in the "Death Prison" and endured immense hardships. Eventually Ann died in Burma.

Today there are too many people preaching that God wants you to be happy and comfortable and rich and all that good stuff. Adoniram knew better. He knew that Burma would be the complete opposite and that he would likely die there. He went anyway. In the first 7 years, there were 9 converts. By 1841 there were 240 Burmese converts; in some places they could meet in the open, although in Rangoon they still had to hide and meet in secret. He spent years translating the Bible and then 6 more getting it printed; it remains the only Burmese translation of the Bible.

Eventually Adoniram got sick...again. Only this time he did not recover. The doctor prescribed a sea voyage and Adoniram was willing to try. On April 12, 1850, Adoniram died at sea. He was about 62, and had spent 37 years in Burma. In all that time, he had been back to America once, 5 years before. He had given his life for the Burmese and for the gospel.

I leave you with two scripture passages that came to mind as I read and wrote about Adoniram's life:

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (I Corinthians 4:7-12)

The people who walk in darkness

Will see a great light;

Those who live in a dark land,

The light will shine on them. (Isaiah 9:2)