Pen of Iron

Do you know the above chorus. It is one of my favorites. It goes something like this.
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after Thee
You alone are my heart's desire
and I long to worship Thee

The chorus is based on Psalm 42. to the Chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. Probably you know by now that my favorite psalms are those penned by none other than the sons of Korah. These children has experienced great calamity in their childhood (read Numbers 16) but it did not drive them to depression or insanity. Instead they wrote the most sentimental and loveliest psalms of all. Looks for them ranging from psalms 42 passing through psalm 45 up to psalm 88.

It is my first Sunday in CR. I am out on a picnic with this family. They drive to Cartago, a very beautiful mountainous area of Costa Rica. On the way the lady of the house and her son insist they want to drive me by the church of Mary of Los Angeles. The sixteen year old son tells me the legend on the way. Here's what I remember, and I know the details are not accurate because I could not believe my ears as the young man went on with the story.

There is this little girl who found the virgin, a black virgin statue, and the virgin told her to build her a church. The girl tells the priest who begins to build a huge church at some location, but due to earthquakes and some natural events, it was evident that the virgin was not happy with the location of the church. As we passed by an immense unfinished building, I am told that this was the location of the original church. Pillars are still erected but the building is not completed. They kept losing the virgin and finding her in a different location. It was as if the virgin was telling them it is here in this location that I want my church built. And indeed we drive along and we reach the church of Mary of Los Angeles. A huge monument with a vast out court that is reminicent of the vatican but on a smaller scale. All I long I am praying in my heart. Lord I don't want to be rude to my hosts, what shall I do. The van pulls in to the parking lot, and we are expected to get off. As we walk through the big outer court, I am told that in August people walk for days to this location, and they spend days in the open court, sleeping in the open area as they pray and ask for answers to prayer.

The tour begins, and I am feeling uneasy. We are led around the church through the outer courts. One thing catches my eye. Up on the wall to my left hand side is a huge sentence in Spanish. Upon looking at it closely, I realize it is the first verse of Pslam 42, the one I quoted above. This is wierd, I thought to myself. Then we are led to a grove, a cave with the virgin (a small black statue in the middle, surrounded by trees (groves) and the cave is fenced, but underneath it are tubes where water is gushing out. Drink, was the ivitation. This is holy water. No. Thank you, I said. As we walked away I saw about ten different persons carrying empty bottles, jugs, gallons etc. making their way to fill their cup with that water. I felt very sorry and still uneasy I was almost in tears for these people. Then I am led to an inner building and on the sides are like galleries containing huge statues of the little girl who found the virgin. Then the virgin herself (another statue), and the story of the little miracle is written on one wall for tourists to read.

The tour continues, and now I am standing infront of about six wall mounted cabinets, with glass doors that are locked. Against the wall of each of these cabinets hangs little trinkets or pieces of silves made into various shapes of body parts. These are the body parts which the virgin had healed. Legs, arms, hearts, livers, kidneys, breasts, fingers you name it. I have never seen something like this in my life. I am feeling very disturbed, but don't know what to say.

Thankfully my host did not invite me into the church. I guess she was told I am a baptist and she had this much respect for my faith, so she did not push. But all this time, I am puzzled and wondering what shall I do. How can I talk to these people about their faith in which they are so entrenched without offending them. At some point, the lady of the house takes her younger daughter to the bathroom, and I am left there with the son and another teenage daughter. By now we had made our way back to the original big outer court, and I see that verse again.

Then it hit me. I looked at the son and said. Do you notice something about this place? Look I said the verse is talking about panting after God, but everything else around here points to what you have been calling "the virgin" which as a matter of fact is only a statue. If I bust it with a hammer, it will turn to powder that is powerless to do any miracle at all. From there on, I went to tell him about the fact that these people are quoting scripture, but that scripture commands us not to have groves or statues. That these things are disobedience to God. I did what I could that afternoon. I gave the kids two tracts, and tried to impress upon their heart their need to read the Bible and find out what biblical truth was. I did not make much headway with that family but I did manage to talk to them about the fear of God and their need to read the Bible on another occasion. I hope and pray that somehow my testimony would have some sort of effect on them. It was very depressing for me to see how that almost every house I visited in CR had statues of the virgin, and of Joseph and of the maggi, and of Micheal and of God knows what in their homes.

I love the people in CR. They are a peaceful nation, very kind and sweet and friendly. May God send more workers to that country, a country very entrenched in catholicism. I should also not forget to praise him because he had reserved for himself three thousand knees that have not bowed down to Baal, as he had told Elijah.

As the deer pantenth for the water, so may the Lord grant these people to be thirsty for the word of God.

Posted by Consecrated at 8:26 PM |