I was feeling overwhelmed when I started working with Wycliffe and received my first assignment in Ecuador. Doubts came, and I wondered how I could ever do government relations work in a country that I had never visited and in a language I didn’t even speak. Feelings of inadequacy flooded over me, and I turned to the same source of comfort I had looked to in every other situation, the Bible.
At that time, part of my daily devotions included a Proverb a day, so I know it was June 22, 1988. As I read the words of Scripture, I experienced a gripping sensation and asked, “Lord, is this a promise from you?” It read, “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men” (Proverbs 22:29, NIV).
Somehow God would honor my diligence and allow me to meet with government officials as I depended on Him. I didn’t tell anyone about that promise back then, but it was fulfilled in 1992, when we had an audience with the president of Ecuador to present all of our translated Scriptures and published works to the country. Standing in the presidential palace, the verse came clearly to my mind, and I gave thanks to God for His promise, for His Word. It was never about my adequacy; it was always about His power.
—Roy Peterson, now the president of the Wycliffe Seed Company