Truth Archive

“O God, I thank Thee for the way that’s opened up to me.” That is my testimony. I’m going to do something I’ve only ever done once before at a convention – give my testimony.

I Corinthians 15:9, “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.”

When Paul said those words, “I am the least of the apostles,” it wasn’t mock humility. It was sincere humility to say that. I’m honest when I say, I feel I am the least of the apostles.. but “by the grace of God I am what I am.” Still in the ministry. A small cog in a great work.

In Switzerland, I sat by a bed where an old woman was breathing her last, stricken with cancer. She said, “You know, Graeme, I look back and I failed often, I just don’t merit it. I can’t earn it. Can I really have hope of being with God in eternity?” This was a woman I looked up to. She’d stood true for many years, a true mother in Israel, feeling not worthy, had made too many mistakes. I sat and wondered how can I answer and encourage her. I said, “If you could say you have earned or merited it then you wouldn’t need the grace of God.”

We’re only saved by the grace of God. Paul could say, “I was among the worst. And the least of the apostles.. but by the grace of God I am what I am.” I’m very, very thankful for the grace of God that has kept me all these years.

It was my privilege to grow up in a professing home. I didn’t appreciate it. I found the meetings boring. “Oh no, not Sunday again!” It was the worst day of the week in my childhood. Somehow, God touched my heart, for which I’m very grateful. This particular evening, I went with father, on our bikes, to the gospel meeting. I’d never sat in a tested meeting before. But I felt, “Tonight, something is going to happen.” I had a sort of premonition. A feeling. What, I didn’t know. There was a voice in my ear, “No, you’re young, you’re still going to school, put it off for a while.” Yet, somehow, I struggled to my feet. We’re very quiet, father and I. We don’t speak a lot. We rode home and not a word was spoken. I said to myself, “You’ve got to start praying and reading.”

But what do you pray and read? I opened my Bible at Psalm 1. For the first time in my life, it spoke to me. This was proof that God has accepted your choice. This was confirmation.

Growing up in a professing home, we have everything we need. But I struggled those early years.

Psalm 40:2. “He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” Why did he fall into the pit? He got too close to the edge. Sometimes we get too close to the edge. This pit is in the world. It’s there. It’s dangerous to get too close to the edge. David had got too close to the edge. This was my experience.

Recently, I arrived in a home where I was to stay. The lady asked me, “Where do you come from?” and then she said, “Oh, one of them!” At the end of the convention, she said, “We’re just so thankful you came.” Her whole attitude had changed.

The religion of New Zealand is rugby. Sport and it’s the religion of Australia, too. From our home, we could hear the crowd cheering. I wasn’t allowed to go. The newspaper came out Saturday night with results of the game. I used to go to a friend’s home to hear all about it. I was very close to the edge of the pit. One day, I went and knocked on my friend’s door but they had moved away and said nothing to me. I knew full well that God was in it. God saw the danger and removed them.

A few short years later, I was moved about the harvest field. I never saw the need for workers. There were a big number of workers in New Zealand at that time. I thought, “It’s the safest place for you – to be on the altar of sacrifice.”

Psalm 84:3, “Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.”

It seemed strange. I can’t picture a sparrow or swallow building a nest on an altar.

A bird wouldn’t build a nest on a busy highway. They look for a safe place. There’s no safer place for our soul than on the altar of sacrifice. It was very clear to me.

A man came to David and told him to stay home, that it wasn’t safe at the battle front. So, he stayed home. He fell, he committed adultery and became a murderer. The safest place for us all is at the battle front, facing up to the enemy. That was the call for me.

Then, almost every year some young worker went overseas. This thought concerned me. I thought, “You’re young yet.” I prayed about it. One day, I wrote a letter offering to go anywhere at all. At the letter box, I was thinking, “Shall I put it in or not?” I took the letter and tore it up, thinking, “This has to come from God, not me.” Two weeks later, a letter came. “There is a request for help in Switzerland, will you go?” I knew full well it didn’t just come from the overseer. It was an answer to my prayer, even though I wondered, “Why Switzerland?” “Where is it?” The next thing I did was rush to the library and found a small little spot. Seven times smaller than New Zealand. I wondered, “What will I do there?!” I arrived there in 1964. In my second year, up in the mountains where there were no friends, it was winter time, snow had fallen, the hall was cold and hard to heat.. I went for a walk and thought, “Is it worthwhile to be here, to continue on and struggle in this country?” An answer came from Heaven about slaves serving for six years..then they could go free or they could say, “I love my master and I will not go out free.” Yes, I could say I love my God. It was a clear answer to me, “Carry on.” The law said, “I’m bound for six years.” Love said, “I’m in this for life. Because I love my Master.” If the harvest field is just law, a must, I have to do it, it’s against my will, we won’t last. There comes a point when you say, “I love my Master, I will not go out free.”

I was asked to go to the West Indies. Haiti was a poor country. Six or seven million people. 90% couldn’t read or write. It was really poverty stricken. One evening, again I was out walking. These people couldn’t read or write. The children come to meetings and fall asleep. This evening, I struggled again, Is it worthwhile? Yes, I knew it was worthwhile to give my life for EVERY person.

In 1993, I was asked to go to Italy. A heavy burden was placed on me. I struggled those first months. “God, I can’t do it. I haven’t got the strength.” One day, the answer came, “It’s true, you haven’t got strength. You can’t do it. What you need is MY strength.” In the home life, in business, in the work place, we need God’s strength wherever we are. That’s the major lesson I learnt.

There were certain needs in Holland. It was decided I should go. There was division in the country. One thing helped me. Things had gone bad for Job. He lost his family, he suffered. I understood why his wife said, “You’ve been true. God said you are the best on earth. If God rewards you that way, curse God and die.” But Job said, “..the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

When things go wrong, keep on trusting. Trust in God. Sometimes things do go wrong. Humanly we would say, “Give up.” Job said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Such confidence, trust and faith.

Jesus said, “..ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” The thing was; Keep on believing. Keep trusting in God.

In 2008, needs arose in Germany. The man bearing the burden felt he couldn’t go on. To be honest with you, I didn’t want to go to Germany. Things were going well. Peace was restored. I had a few months free. I went to New Zealand. My father re-professed at 95. In the back of my mind was the thought of Germany. I struggled for willingness to go there. It’s my experience, my testimony. In an old hymn book number 311 says, “Light after darkness, gain after loss.. Right was the pathway, leading to this.” All these experiences and changes were incredible. I bow my head and worship God and say, “Right was the pathway leading to this.”

At a convention place in USA, there is a little cemetery. I remember thinking, “If I were to die here and be buried here, ‘Right was the pathway leading to this.’”

That sums up my whole testimony. In New Zealand, what I learned when I was 16, my father had a serious talk to me. He told me I had no perseverance and I give up too easily. The night I left home, the family came to the boat. Dad and I shook hands. We couldn’t say anything. If he had said, “If it’s too hard, come home,” I would have. Because I struggled so much. So, the first lesson I learned was, “Don’t give up. Don’t quit.” It’s good advice for marriage, family, in the work. We’ll all be tempted. I was. But don’t give up. Because “Right was the pathway leading to this.”