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Book Review:
Beautifully-worded piece of writing
Neel Wijesinghe’s book, “From the Ends of the Earth” is written in
beautiful language with vivid words and is very readable. He is very
frank and tells the story without any excuses or covering up, which
shows how weak we human beings are underneath our polished exteriors. As
Neel shows, although we are frail God is very good to us. Therefore, we
have help and hope from Him.
The story shows that he has courage and faith to go forward, with
positive expectation and courage. This positive expectation is due to
his vibrant faith. A faith in a good and loving and dependable God. We
can see that God is helpful by giving words of promise through the Bible
frequently as the book records. To take God at His Word is faith and to
follow His promptings is guidance. We can see how Neel has been taken by
his hand and led.
His finding his life’s partner is a saga of God’s goodness and
guidance. She was not easy to get. She was in God’s plan and purpose for
both of them. Indeed God has a wonderful plan for each person’s life.
But we do not know this until it is revealed to us. We can know it if we
only make up with Him and are in the proper wave length. We can see that
they, both, wanted His will always and therefore always trusted Him to
work out everything’ without trying to bring about those things they
wished, to come to pass. If we really want know the will of God He will
show it to us unerringly; and we must let Him do it His way one hundred
percent, without trying to pull strings and manipulate. We usually make
our own plans and ask Him to endorse them.
That is having our own way and not seeking His will. Actually, we
must give Him a blank paper with our signature at the bottom, for Him to
fill in the plan.
This is what Neel and Yolene have done in their live together and in
their ministry. In one instance there was serious disagreement with a
very good Christian body and had to separate from them resulting in much
hurt and sadness. This shows that the best of us can misread God’s will
in two very different ways and both parties may be wrong and others may
misunderstand us and dislike us.
We can be let down by friends, deceived by others and completely
fooled by the devil. Neel says “no temptation come to us dressed in a
devil’s outfit. It can come as the most reasonable thing which you are
also entitled to have. Therefore, the Bible says, “Be alert and vigilant
because your enemy the devil walks about seeking whom he may devour...”
This book shows how good and loving and patient God is and how
reliable He is. We can see this in the lives of Neel and Yolene; How He
provides our needs and uses us, whoever we are, to bless us and make us
a blessing to others. Even when we make mistakes and grumble and
complain, He still bears up with us like a tender, loving mother; He
picks us up and carries us in His arms, despite our thinking all is lost
or that He has given up on us. He says “I will never leave you nor
forsake you.” Neel says “We give way under the pressure and get carried
away by raging torrents of circumstances. Later we get dismayed by the
flotsam and jetsam of our mistakes, forget that God is infinitely
greater than human limitation. We fell guilty for failing Him, as if
success depended on us.”
- Rev Canon Dr Laksman Peiris |
