If you’re new to the Exploring with Jake series, be sure to read the introduction.
Finally this morning at Sunday School our teacher told us what happened to Sundar Singh that night he lay sick from the poison. Sundar had just heard the doctor say that there was nothing else that could be done for him. The doctor was sure he would not live through the night. But Sundar didn’t want to die. He knew there were things God still wanted him to do. There were people he needed to tell about Jesus and His love. So whenever Sundar was awake, he prayed and asked God to heal him and make him well again.
When morning came, Sundar was still alive. Not only that, his stomach didn’t hurt anymore and he didn’t feel terrible like he had. People could hardly believe it! The doctor came a few hours later to plan the funeral and instead found Sundar healthy and sitting outside in the sunshine! Sundar knew God had healed him.
Sundar went back to school, but when the people who had poisoned him found out that he didn’t die, they came and caused trouble at his school. So Sundar left again, this time going to a hospital for people with leprosy. The hospital was run by Christians and Sundar was happy to help. While Sundar was there he realized something important. Most of his people looked at Christianity as something that was just for Westerners, people who came to his country from Great Britain, the United States, and other countries. They didn’t think Jesus had anything in common with Indians. Sundar needed to find a way to change that. He wanted to show people that Jesus loved everyone—whether Westerners or Indians or anyone else. Just like Jesus had followers from many different lands, Jesus wanted people in every town and village to know that He loved them, that He died for them, and that He had risen again.
So Sundar decided to do something he didn’t think anyone else had ever done before. He decided to dress like a sadhu. A sadhu was a holy man in the religion of many of the people. They wore saffron (orange) robes and taught the people about religion. But Sundar would wear the saffron robes and teach the people about Jesus. He purchased the robe and started out on a journey, walking from town to town.
Now when Sundar started talking to people, they listened because he looked like a sadhu. But when they found out he was a Christian, most of them wouldn’t listen. Still, some did, and that encouraged Sundar to keep telling everyone he could about Jesus. He never knew who would listen and choose to believe in Jesus.
A lot of times Sundar was kicked out of the villages. No one would give him a place to sleep or anything to eat, and he spent many nights cold and hungry. Sometimes people got angry with him. One night when Sundar had found an abandoned hut to sleep in, he had an unexpected visitor. A villager came and warned him that there was a plot to kill him. He couldn’t stay in the hut any longer. Sundar picked up his blanket and set off into the wilderness. He knew what kinds of animals lived out there. Just one bite from a dangerous snake could kill him. And there were always the tigers. But it wasn’t the first time that he needed to risk his life to tell people about Jesus.
He took his blanket and headed out into the wilderness.
“Dear God, it hurts our feelings when people don’t like us because we believe in You, and it makes us sad that they don’t know You yet. Please help us to keep learning all we can about You so that we can share it with others. Please help us to remember that You are always with us, no matter who likes us and who doesn’t. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
If you missed the beginning of our story, read Sundar Singh: A Seed Is Sown.
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