Jeremiah 32:17
Amplified Bible (AMP)
17 ‘Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your
great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too difficult or too wonderful
for You
Ikizu Secondary School
and Seminary is located in the great steppe country near Lake Victoria in Tanzania.
Steppe country is characterized by 4 feet tall grass punctuated by picturesque
flat topped acacia trees. It is only slightly better than desert. Being very
close to the equator it receives two rainy seasons a year, two weeks in November and
December and six weeks in February and March.
The year was about 1969, and
I was a math and science teacher in the secondary school. It also became my
responsibility to take care of all physical maintenance on campus, including
providing the campus with electricity and water. I had some great student
helpers that actually made the maintenance possible. One of these was Abraham
Sando.
One Friday morning Abraham
knocked on my door. “Sir, we are getting no water from the pump.” He broke the
news apologetically but with finality.
“Has the pump broken down? Is
the engine working okay?” I queried.
“Yes, sir!”
“Did you turn it off last
night?”
“Yes, sir! And I started it
this morning again.” He and I walked over to the water pipe that came up from
the well, which was a mile down in the valley next to a creek that usually had
a little water in it. There was definitely no water coming up the pipe. We had
received no rain in the short rainy season. It was now the beginning of March,
and we had received no rain so far this rainy season. The dam the villagers got
their water from had dried up completely. Villagers had dug 6 and 8 feet deep
holes in the bottom of the dam where a pitifully meager supply of water would
trickle in overnight. The creek was dry, too.
My thoughts ran quickly to
the more than 200 students and staff who depended on our well for water. We had
a tank, but it would not last more than about three days.
“Please go back down the hill
and turn the pump off,” I said resignedly to Abraham. “We’ll leave the pump off
until Sunday morning, and I hope water will run into the well in the meantime.
Hopefully we can pump on Sunday.” He smiled in agreement. He was also worried
about the dire consequences we faced without water.
As soon as George Dunder, our
principal, arrived in his office that morning, I went in and alerted him to our
predicament. He asked for my suggestions. After a discussion of what we might
do, I suggested that we make Sabbath a day of fasting and prayer for rain. We
did exactly that. Really the only alternative would be to close the school down
and send all of the students and staff away.
On Sabbath I overheard a
number of students discussing our water situation. These particular students
tended to be very skeptical all the time. They reasoned that the day of fasting
and prayer was really worthless. After all it was in the middle of the longer
rainy season, so if it started to rain, it would not be God answering our prayer;
it would simply be the natural course of events. On the other hand, if it
didn’t rain, then God clearly hadn’t answered our request, if He existed at
all. I couldn’t help seeing their reasoning and wondering how God would answer
our prayers and preserve His integrity. I said nothing to them because all I
had was questions, too.
Our water tank was nearly
empty by Sunday morning. After Abraham came up from starting the pump, we
walked over to check the flow in the pipe. We had a tap located on the main water
pipe. We measured how fast the water was coming up by opening the tap and
timing how long it took to fill a five gallon can. Water was indeed coming up
the hill but only at a quarter of the normal rate. I asked Abraham to check
this tap every hour or two during the day to gauge how much water was running
or see if the well had again run dry.
He checked in with me that
evening and reported that the water was still pumping at the same slow rate. We
normally ran the pump about 8 or 10 hours a day 6 days a week, and this kept us
in ample supply of water.
“Good! If we are still getting
water, let’s run the pump night and day until either the flow of water returns
to normal or until the water runs out entirely. When you go down in the
evenings, just fill up the diesel tank to run the pump engine and check the
oil. Then watch the flow of water up here on the hill several times during the
day. Don’t go down there on Sabbath. I will personally do the Sabbath duty.” I
didn’t want him to worry about whether he should work on Sabbath.
For the next six weeks we
continued on this regimen. There was not even a hint of rain. The tropical sun
burned down on us every day from a clear blue sky. But we had just enough water
to meet our needs.
One day in the middle of
April, well into the dry season, a black storm came up. It rained hard and
long. All the creeks started running. Some water ran into the dam, more than
filling the holes the desperate villagers had dug. A great relief filled my
soul. And the well ran totally dry!
I said to the skeptical
students, “What do you think? You suggested that either way our need was met,
it couldn’t be the hand of God. Now you are witnesses. You have drunk the water
God provided for six whole weeks without rain.”
For once in their smug
skepticism they were speechless.
Thank You, God, that Your might power and outstretched
arm is still as mighty today as in the time of Jeremiah and that You have ways
of meeting our needs that we would never even dream of!
