Ivan Rudolph, Churchill School, Salisbury, Rhodesia.

Neil Jardine, deputy headmaster at Churchill School where I was teaching, invited me to be Head of the Department of Science in the new school at which he would be Headmaster – Marlborough High School. I did not give an answer right away because I wanted first to pray and find out what God wanted.

God indicated nothing to me as the days went by. Perhaps I should stay at Churchill School?

Neil then gave me an ultimatum on a Friday – he was seeing the Staffing Officer the following Monday and needed to put my name forward or not, so I would have to decide over the weekend.

I prayed fervently Friday night through to Sunday night – no guidance came. That night I said to Brenda “If the Lord does not tell me overnight I will tell Neil not to put my name forward.” That was it; the die was cast.

Very early the next morning, while still dark, I heard a ringing voice saying “Judges 1:11” several times.

Very excited now, I leant across and woke up Brenda. “Our answer is Judges 1:11! The Lord has just told me.” Then I hesitated before adding, “It sounds like a Bible verse. Is there a book of Judges in the Bible?” As a new Christian who was at that time reading mainly the New Testament, I did not know.

“I think there might be,” Brenda responded sleepily.

I reached out for the Bible next to my bed-which happened to be Brenda’s Catholic Douay version. At the front we found that Judges was indeed a book in the Bible and turned to chapter 1 verse 11, which read:

And departing from thence (“I think we may be going”) he went to the inhabitants of Dabir, the ancient name of which was Cariaph-Sepher, that is, the city of letters (“City of Letters sounds like something to do with education”).

“That’s it,” I concluded excitedly, “We’ll be going to Marlborough High School!” and I asked Neil to put my name forward.

We shared our exciting guidance in our small home group. As we all turned up the verse again, Brenda squealed in excitement on looking down to the notes at the bottom of the page in her Douay version:

“The City of Letters. Perhaps so named because of some famous SCHOOL, or library, kept there.”

For interest, other translations of Judges 1:11 that I have looked at, in at least 20 versions, do not mention City of Letters, or ‘school’ in the notes, but years later I found “City of Letters” in the Septuagint version. God even knew which Bible I would look at in our home when He said “Judges 1.11”!!

But was God’s timing for me to move correct? The Staffing Officer telephoned Neil and said I could not leave Churchill School after all! This was because of a chronic lack of Chemistry teachers at senior level, and the new school’s intake would be only to form 2. He could not justify the move.

I was now totally confused! Who had the correct timing — God? Or the Staffing Officer of the Department of Education?

After prayer, I decided: “There is no way that the Staffing Officer is correct. We are going to Marlborough High because God has decided it.”

I wrote a letter to the Staffing Officer pointing out that while the new school would not have senior students for three years, it would need someone planning and organising the Science Department appropriately for when they started. Thereby my skills would not be wasted.

A couple of weeks later Neil pulled me aside. “Head Office has changed their mind. They are releasing you to come to Marlborough High after all.” It was most unusual for Head Office to reverse a decision by teacher request.

Ivan’s testimony shows that:

1. God knows the Bible intimately – I have searched but have not found any other single verse that would guide me both to leave where I was and to go where there is a school.
2. God takes all of scripture seriously, even verses that are little known and apparently obscure. Did you know beforehand what Judges 1:11 read in any translation, let alone the Douay one and footnotes? Does any Bible expert alive know without looking it up? But God knows all this, so the Bible must be important to Him – and thereby it is essential for us to read it prayerfully. Listening to a good professional reading of it can also be very helpful, especially if you find reading scripture difficult.
3. God has extraordinary advance knowledge of our actions, even to the level of which version of the Bible we will read!
4. God uses scripture as a means to communicate with us personally today – not usually dramatically as in the guidance incident described, but by the Holy Spirit within Christians giving fresh insight from what we read.
5. God wants us to look on the Bible as a personal book from Him to us, to help us in our spiritual growth. My training in science could easily have turned me away from believing the vital importance and truths of scripture – but the fact that He used such an obscure verse as Judges 1:11 to guide me has taught me to take the Bible very seriously, which I have always done. We should never deviate from the fact that it provides inspired truth whether we like it or not, or understand it or not. Where ultimate truth is concerned, our brains and intellect can only take us a very limited distance, but God can take us just as far as He chooses. Do we even comprehend even one percent of ultimate processes, origins and truths? I doubt it.
6. God’s guidance takes precedence over the decisions of earthly authorities.
7. God will guide Christians but, in our case at least, not readily. Perhaps the waiting and indecision is to strengthen our faith in readiness for new challenging situations? Brenda and I have received divine guidance for other situations but for us it has always been after prolonged prayer and a readiness to obey absolutely whatever God decided – God does not appear to guide us if we have already predetermined what it is we want, nor if we question His instructions because they appear to be incorrect. God is always correct.
8. God can use the Bible as a relational book helping us to know Him and His thinking, and timing, more intimately.

Sandy van der Westhuizen in South Africa, now in Australia.

Ivan’s Comment:

Sandy has a number of examples that illustrate how God’s timing has been phenomenal in her and Eric’s lives – including essential people providing what has been needed at just the right time. Her picture of how this happens is engaging and I’ll repeat it below; followed by three of her examples.

When we’re young and naïve, we plan our lives and think everything will go according to plan. If that was the case, Eric and I would still be living in Rhodesia, along with our children and grandchildren. God’s plans are often very different to ours. I’ve tried to explain it to young people, disappointed that things aren’t going according to their plans. Life is like the children’s game “Blind man’s buff.” (Buff is a small push.) We are blindfolded, spun around and pushed in a direction we can’t see. We grope around and move forward. Later, when the blindfold comes off, we see it was a direction we would never have chosen ourselves. Looking back over the years we can see the reason for it being a good direction….

Now for Sandy’s examples:

When our grandson was born in Johannesburg, we set off to go and see him, but only got as far as Diepsloot before our car broke down. (Diepsloot is notorious for stranded motorists being murdered there). We phoned our mechanic who was prepared to come to our rescue, but we couldn’t tell him what the exact problem was. We waited next to the road, and many people drove past without stopping, too afraid to stop in case it was an ambush. Eventually, a rather rough looking young man stopped and came over. I was ready with my pepper spray in case he attacked us. He checked in the engine, knew exactly what the problem was, and told us to ask the mechanic on the way to bring a certain part. Then he was on his way again. He was just the right person with the right knowledge at the right time. ‘Angels’ come in some strange disguises.

After 22 years at Brits High, I turned 65 and had to retire. The South African government doesn’t pay salaries after that age, and the school couldn’t afford to pay me. One Sunday morning, coming out of church, we bumped into the Headmaster of a neighbouring rival school and started chatting about my “retirement”. He couldn’t believe I didn’t have a post and offered me a senior maths post at his school, signing my church leaflet as my immediate appointment. Was it a coincidence bumping into the right person at the right time? We hadn’t spoken after church for a year or two. From this meeting began my best four years of teaching…..

Our two older children had emigrated to Australia by 2009. Once we’d got our visas to join them, we had five years to get ourselves there. My mother was 89 by then, and although she was living in aged care, I visited at least four times a week to see her and help with showering, etc. I couldn’t emigrate and leave her behind. It should have been easy to sell our house and we put it up for sale, but no serious buyers emerged. After three years it was still on the market. My mom died in that winter aged nearly 94, and then the house was sold a few months later. As a condition of sale, we had to be out by the end of November. However, the new owners let us move into the flat until I finished teaching two weeks later. Perfect timing all round, and our emigration to Australia was successful.

Sandy’s testimony illustrates that:

1. God knows what is best and directs circumstances behind the scenes to that end.
2. God can prompt unlikely people to help us in tricky situations.
3. God is aware of our work situation such that He can open fresh opportunities – when one door closes, He can arrange another to open.
4. God is always aware of the timing needed for important life changes such as emigration. He may seem to delay His plans for us, but on reflection we can see the thread of what He has been organising in the background.

Geoff and Jackie Bishop when missionaries in Burundi

We lived in rural Burundi, Central Africa, with our 3 young children. For some years we had a doctor nearby, but then he went to another part of the country.
Our eldest daughter became quite unwell one day. We prayed for her, and again when Geoff came home for a coffee break. Rebecca was not improving and we were quite concerned. We prayed again, and decided that should there be no improvement by lunch time, we would all get in the car and drive over difficult roads to a doctor about two and a half hours away.

Just before lunch time I heard a vehicle coming in to our driveway. It was our own mission doctor who had been to a meeting in the north of the country and was on his way home south! He had wondered whether he should stop and visit us, or just continue on his journey home. He chose to stop and have a cup of tea!

What an unexpected and timely blessing our doctor was that day, and how God cares and answers those who call out to him!

The Bishops’ testimony shows that:

1. God has the capacity to bring a person to help us when most needed.
2. Godpromises to hear us when we pray. He does not promise to answer in the way we expect or think He should. 
3. God, the Creator who sustains the universe, can orchestrate the timing of events, meetings with people. and circumstances to bring about his purposes.
4. God workings reveal that, as we continually commit our lives to Him, we can trust that nothing can happen to us or our loved ones without His permission.