Can you consent?

A while back, I read a biography on the life of Adoniram Judson, the first American missionary sent from the United States (in 1812). He spent his entire missionary career in Burma (today Myanmar) where he impressively learned the language and completed two enormous volumes of translation work. The first was an English/Burmese Dictionary and second was the Burmese translation of the entire Bible. Over the course of 38 years, they also saw 8000 Burmese converts and 100 Burmese churches planted; fruit that continues to grow to this day. Today we find 3.8 Million Christians in Myanmar this is 6.2% of its population. 

While his accomplishments and legacy are impressive, I was most impacted by a letter he wrote to his future father-in-law. This letter was to ask permission to marry his first wife, Ann. It was before he had ever learned a single word of Burmese. Without any context, without any example to follow, without having ever read a missionary biography, he penned this...

“I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world ? Whether you can consent to her departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life? Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall resound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?” From The Life of Adoniram Judson by his son Edward Judson. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph & Company, 1883.

How did he know?

How did he know what to expect? 

You see his accomplishments and marvel, but those accomplishments were realized only through the hardships of death, sufferings, dangers at sea, physical and emotional health issues, insult, persecution, and much more. 

• His first wife, Ann, died in 1826, 14 years after they arrived. 

• Adoniram imprisoned for 19 months, always on the edge of starvation and death. He was presumed to be a British spy. 

• The first death of a child in 1827, followed by the death of other children as well. 

• The death of his second wife in 1845

• The death of other team members, some lost at sea. 

• Adoniram himself died at sea in 1850. 

I was reminded of this most recently because my daughter, Bekah, read a biography on his life for a book report she needed to do. She did a great job on the report and it made me pick my book back up and re-read the letter. It broke me then, and it continues to break me. 

It breaks me because I married someone's daughter and took her away to Chile for the mission of the Gospel. 

It breaks me because I have 4 daughters who will be given away someday. 

Would I consent, if the future son-in-law came to me with this proposal?

Would you? 

Would my father-in-law have said yes, if I had asked something similar? 

I'd like to think that I could agree to such a sober perspective on the risks of taking the Gospel to the nations. No Christian is guaranteed safety, but we are guaranteed security. As followers of Christ, we are promised rejection, suffering, and persecution. So what's the issue? In the context of consent to your own daughter's marriage, it shifts the proposal from a distant possibility and makes the risks a little more real. I'm sure it would cause me a double-take but hopefully, result in a double-down on the realization that these are the risks of anyone called to be a Christ-follower.

Our missionary life in Chile doesn't look anything like that of the Judson's. Most missions experiences don't look like that.

But some still do.

Pray for those living in that daily reality, and be ready to consent when the time comes. 

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For more info on the life of Adoniram Judson find these books:

Adoniram Judson: Bound for Burma (great for teens) by Janet and Geoff Benge

To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson (great for a deeper look)

by Courtney Anderson