lenten journey, day 6 — a prayer for more nouhs

How does God draw a person who has never heard the Gospel to Himself? Dreams? Visions? Street preaching? Sure...God can and does use these things to reach the unreached. Sometimes, He uses something a much less dramatic. In the case of Nouh Ag Infa Yattara, He used a ball-point pen.

Nouh is a member of an islamic Saharan people group known as the Tamasheq. Once a rich and powerful people, the Tamasheq gradually became poorer and more desperate due to colonialism, civil war and famine. Nouh was kidnapped in 1959 and forced by the French rulers of the day to attend school in the city, far from his nomadic people

At school, Nouh noticed that some children owned "click-clacks"—ball point pens given away by missionaries in the area. To get a pen, children had to recite four Bible verses. Nouh got his pen, got a beating for associating with "infidels," and was told by his family that Christianity "is only for white people." He found out otherwise four years later when the missionaries sent him to a Bible camp where he met Christians of all colors and languages.

Long story short, Nouh has found abundant life and salvation through Jesus Christ (despite being tied up by his father, being expelled from the family, and being routinely assaulted by random people). God had a heroic life planned for Nouh, though. Because of Nouh's desire to see his people have access to scripture, the New Testament has been translated into the Tamasheq language.

All because of a ball-point pen. Oh, and God's perfect plan to draw all nations, tribes and tongues to faith in Christ!

God, I am amazed that you could use something as simple as a pen to bring about the redemption of an islamic boy in Africa, and through him bring your Word to an unreached people group. Forgive me, Father, for thinking that sharing your love has to be something grandiose. Forgive me for making excuses like "I wouldn't know what to say to a muslim," or "I can't speak their language." God, through Nouh's story, I see that if I will bring the love (and possibly the pens!), You will do the work. Father, would you send more Nouhs into my life? Would you set your church alight with holy fire to seek out the Nouhs of this world? Yes, and amen.

“The LORD has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.” — Psalm 98:1-2

“For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” — Acts 13:47