Go For Me To China

Go For Me To China

He was no stranger to the Bible or to church, but at the age of seventeen, he was still a stranger to a personal walk with God.

THE SUMMER of 1849 broke warm with promise in Hudson Taylor’s heart, when at last God granted him the joyful realization of Christ’s sufficiency for his sins. Many years later Taylor recalled:

Well do I remember that occasion, how in the gladness of my heart I poured out my soul before God, and again and again confessing my grateful love to Him who had done everything for me—who had saved me when I had given up all hope and even desire of salvation—I besought Him to give me some work for Him . . . that I might do for Him who had done so much for me. . . . I poured myself, my life, my friends, my all upon the altar, the deep solemnity that came over my soul with the assurance that my offering was accepted. The presence of God became unutterably real and blessed. . . . For what service I was accepted, I knew not. But a deep consciousness that I was not my own took possession of me, which has never since been effaced.

Taylor’s inner change was outwardly visible that summer. He loved spending time in the Bible and in prayer. He was so filled with the joy and wonder of salvation that he used his free time to share his faith with others.

But as fall and then winter set in, a coldness crept over Taylor’s spirit. He doggedly continued to do the things he felt a Christian should do. But Bible study and prayer lost their sweetness; he went to church only out of duty. His soul grew weary in its struggles with sin.

On Sunday, December 2, 1849, Hudson Taylor awakened feeling as sick in his physical body as he had been feeling in his spirit. When the rest of his family went to church and he was alone in the quiet house, he began a letter to his sister: “Pray for me, dear Amelia. Thank God I feel very happy in His love, but I am so unworthy of all His blessings. I so often give way to temptation. . . . Oh that the Lord would take away my heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh!”

Tormented by his thoughts, Taylor laid down his pen, and then, like Jacob of long ago, he decided that he would “lay hold of God and not let go except Thou bless me.” What God did over the next few hours was so precious that Taylor never spoke of it in detail, but he did add this postscript to the letter: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me shout His praise! Glory to God, my dear Amelia. Christ has said ‘Seek and ye shall find,’ and praise His name, He has revealed himself to me in a an overflowing manner. He has cleansed me from all sin. . . . He has given me a new heart. Glory, glory, glory to His ever blessed Name! I cannot write for joy.”

What filled Hudson Taylor with such praise? Six words from God that day, “Then go for me to China.”

Hudson Taylor did go to China and founded the China Inland Mission, which became the largest missionary organization in the world.

Reflection

Have you ever had an experience like that of Hudson Taylor when you laid hold of God and did not let him go until he blessed you? This was a major turning point in Hudson Taylor’s life.

Jacob panted, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Genesis 32:26