Language, weakness, and God’s presence

The eagerly anticipated letter arrived in Cape Town, officially typed on thin paper. The carbon copy remained in Sapporo, Japan. It read, “We have processed your Language Aptitude Tests and regret to inform you that your results are not at all good. We suggest that, instead of Japan, you consider going to the Philippines as missionaries. You may be better able to cope with the language there.”

Shock. Disappointment. Uncertainty. My wife and I were so sure that God had laid on our hearts a burden for Japan. The more we had prayed, the deeper this burden had been etched onto our hearts.

I remembered my extreme nervousness in Bible college, when preparing to preach for the first time before faculty and students as part of my homiletics course. The night before, I had received a note from another student, Exodus 4:10–12:

But Moses pleaded with the Lord, ‘O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.’ Then the Lord asked Moses, ‘Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say’ (NLT).

The sermon went well.

This memory encouraged us to continue to pray and write many letters to Japan. Finally, the OMF leadership in Japan gave us the go-ahead to come (reluctantly, I later heard). We arrived in Sapporo on March 3, 1979.

Our first term

After two years of full-time language study, we were assigned to take over a two-year-old church plant in Nagayama, Asahikawa. I preached three times a month and led the mid-week meeting—all in Japanese. Here are four memories from the rest of my first term.

1. Preaching

I only had enough time to prepare one sermon to be checked each month. For the other two messages I simply listed some English titles and words on the left side of the page, with painstakingly looked-up Japanese words on the right.

Yet I knew that Professor K, a not-yet-Jesus-follower who taught dialectical materialism (Marxism) at the local university attended the Sunday service once or twice a month.

Why would Professor K come to hear a 26-year-old foreigner mangle the Japanese language? Unbelievable! Is it not I, the Lord?

2. Counselling

I heard that a ramen shop owner in Nagayama wanted to talk to the “pastor.” I was reluctant and scared because of my lack of conversational Japanese. I prayed. Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.

Once a week I went to this ramen shop mid-afternoon when there were no other customers. After handing me a bowl of ramen, Mr H would pour out his heart, in fast, sometimes incoherent, emotional words. I could not understand him but prayed for God to give me one verse for each afternoon. Time and time again, after reading this verse from the Japanese Bible, Mr H would say, “This is just what I need!”

To this day, I still don’t know what his problem was, but God did!

3. Bible studies

Mrs N had put her faith and trust in Jesus. Although her husband would not allow her to receive baptism at that time, I wanted to ground her in the faith. During a study about spiritual gifts, I asked her what she thought her gifts were.

In a typical Japanese fashion, she answered, “I don’t have any.”

“Yes, you do,” I replied. “Read this from 1 Peter 4: ‘God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another’ (vs. 10). What do you think your gift is?”

After a long pause, Mrs N said, “I know! I can understand what you are trying to say at the weekly women’s meeting and rephrase it so that all the ladies can understand.”

Exactly! Mrs N was my “Aaron”.

4. Nonverbal communication

Each Saturday morning, I attended the men’s breakfast hosted by the established sister church, followed by interaction with the Japanese pastor. I could not contribute much to the discussion but learned a lot, especially about non-verbal communication. Often, especially in important conversations, what is verbalised is not always what is meant. God gradually allowed me to “feel” the meaning. Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Even today, I need to lean on God for heart understanding.

Ultimately, it’s about God’s power

Recently, someone said on social media that good Japanese ability is essential to communicate the gospel and is one of the keys to spiritual breakthrough in Japan.

I wonder.

While we should try and get the best Japanese ability we can, ultimately it is God who communicates the good news of the kingdom of Jesus through us—through words, attitude, and actions. The more we are in contact with Jesus—loving him and allowing ourselves to be loved by him—the more Jesus will connect through us, using our weakness for his glory. It is not primarily about our ability, but about God’s power and love.

Communicating in Japanese can be and is frustrating. Especially in my first term, I felt like I was in a black box with no light, trying to move the box forward by jumping and pushing one of the sides. God’s presence penetrates the darkness and seeming impossible-ness with light. “I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you” (Joshua 1:5).

As it happens, I took over as Director of Language, Orientation, and Training at OMF’s Sapporo language center in 2000 (for six years). The first day I sat at my desk and opened the drawers. There, at the back of a drawer, was a file containing all the language aptitude test results. My result was in the 30 percentile, with the majority of workers in the 80–90 percentiles. Maybe God does have a sense of humour!

May our creator God who knows us intimately continue to encourage us all. His strength is made perfect in weakness!