Let me tell you a story about a young boy from India who lived near the border with Bangladesh.
He was not a famous preacher or lead a large ministry. He did not have a huge following or a powerful organisation behind him.
This boy was simply a young believer who had given his life to Christ and developed a deep desire to share the Word of God with people across the border.
The dude had Bibles written in their language, and he believed that those Bibles needed to reach people who might never otherwise have the opportunity to read them.
But there was a problem. At the time, taking the Bibles across the border was illegal.
There were rules against it, and anyone caught attempting to do so could face serious consequences.
Still, the young boy felt compelled to do something. He knew the risks.
But he also believed that the message contained in those books was too important to keep to himself.
A Risky Plan
One night, the boy took a bag filled with Bibles and went toward the river separating India from Bangladesh.
His plan was simple: cross the river under the cover of darkness and deliver the Bibles to people on the other side.
Looking back, it was certainly not the most carefully planned mission. There was no sophisticated strategy or security team.
No detailed plan for what would happen if something went wrong. Just a young believer, a bag of Bibles and a strong conviction in his heart.
But as he attempted to carry out his plan, the authorities caught him.
Suddenly, his mission was over. He was detained by the police.
In that moment, he must have wondered whether he had made a terrible mistake.
The Bibles Disappear
Realising that he had been caught, the young boy threw the bag containing the Bibles into the river. He was detained for two days before eventually being released.
After his release, he returned to search for the bag.
Perhaps he hoped that somehow the Bibles had survived. But he could not find them.
He searched, but there was nothing. The bag was gone together with the Bibles, and as far as he could tell, the entire effort had failed.
He went home disappointed and discouraged. Imagine what he must have felt.
He had taken a risk because he wanted to serve God, but nothing seemed to have come from it.
Sometimes faith looks like that. You pray, but you do not immediately see an answer.
One makes an effort, but you do not see results. You obey what you believe God is asking you to do, yet everything appears to fail.
But the fact that you cannot see what God is doing does not mean that God is doing nothing.
Two Weeks Later
Two weeks passed. Then one day, there was a knock on the boy’s door.
When he opened it, standing before him was a young man from Bangladesh.
The young man told him that he had been searching for him for two weeks.
Then he said something that must have shocked the boy: “You put your name in these Bibles, and we want to know what it means.”
The boy could hardly believe what he was hearing. The Bibles he thought were lost had been found.
The Bag That Crossed the River
The young Bangladeshi man explained what had happened. The bag had somehow floated across the river and reached the other side.
He had found it on the riverbank. When he opened it, he discovered that the Bibles inside were completely dry.
To him, this was extraordinary. He could not understand how books that had been thrown into a river could arrive in such a condition.
He believed he had witnessed something miraculous. So he took the Bibles to his father, who was an important Muslim leader in the community.
The father began reading the passages the young Indian boy had highlighted.
As he read, his curiosity grew. He wanted to understand more about the message contained in the books.
The young boy had thought his mission had failed. But while he was sitting at home feeling defeated, the seed he had planted was already travelling farther than he could have imagined.
Leave the Results to God
The greatest lesson from this story is not that we should copy the boy’s risky method.
The lesson is that we should be willing to obey God, use what He has placed in our hands, and trust Him with the results.
We are responsible for obedience. God is responsible for the outcome. Sometimes He allows us to see the fruit immediately.
Sometimes we wait for months and years, and sometimes we may never see the full result in our lifetime.
But that does not make our obedience meaningless. The Apostle Paul reminds us: “I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” — 1 Corinthians 3:6
That is the heart of the matter. We plant, water, pray, encourage, and then we leave the increase in God’s hands.
So don’t wait until you have a perfect plan before you do something meaningful for God.
