dev177

“…and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.“

John 15:2

William Carey is often credited as being the initiator of the modern mission movement. He is known for awakening the church to the countless billions who were heading into eternity without every hearing the good news of the God who sacrifices. His famous quote, “Attempt great things for God; Expect great things from God” has inspired many a Christian worker to have big ambitions for the kingdom of God.

As a missionary, Carey’s genius laid in the realm of linguistics. He translated the Scriptures into dozens of South Asian languages, including the scholarly Sanskrit language of the Indian intellectual elite. He made huge advancements in the western acquisition of these languages, including writing grammars and dictionaries to help westerners learn these language and, most importantly, translate God’s word for the people of India.

He and his colleagues had set up a mission center where they worked tirelessly in this translation work. They had an office that was over 170 feet long where they had types in Arabic, Persian, Nagari, Telagu, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Chinese, Oriya, Burmese, Kanarese, Greek, Hebrew, and English. They had printing presses. They had workers. They were producing fruit.

Then one day in March of 1812 there was a fire, and fire does not have mercy on no matter what is written on it.

Of course in 1812 you couldn’t just recall your files from you backup hard drive. They completely lost these manuscripts had taken years of work to put together. In his biography, S Pearce Carey writes, “Lost were nearly all his Indian Scripture versions; all his Kanarese New Testament; two whole, large Old Testament books in Sanskrit; many pages of his Bengali Dictionary; all his Telagu grammar, and much of the Punjabi.” An overwhelming amount of toil had gone up in flames; toil that must be redone.

So what does one filled with the Holy Spirit do when faced with such a loss of labor. When the house that takes a lifetime to build is burned to the ground, how ought one respond? The answer was quite simple for Carey and his companions-you get up in the morning and start rebuilding.

There are many times in life where we lose the fruit of our labor, and in these times the temptation to quit and give in can be overwhelming. But let us not forget the painful pruning of our Lord, for this is done that we might bear more fruit. For Carey and his fellow workers, the fire gave them a celebrity status in England and caused many churches to awaken to their cause. More money was sent. More missionaries came to India. God used the fire as a means to spread His kingdom.

And for the man who went through the pruning, his faith was strengthened. Carey wrote, “Much ground must be labored over again, and I have suffered most. But we are not discouraged. We are chastened and not killed; cast down, but not destroyed; perplexed, but not in despair.”

Carey was pruned, and he bore more fruit.