God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil? (Numbers 23:19, NIV)
Those years of Bible smuggling in the former communist countries and subsequent imprisonment, were God’s training ground for what lay in front of me. For it became through those years a “school of faith”, to build the foundations of my belief in the greatness of God, His extreme faithfulness and His power to overcome every obstacle. Those years brought me so close to Him that I never doubted Him or His ability in the face of the seemingly impossible. As Cyril Williams, one of our passengers on those bus tours where we smuggled Bibles, was fond of reminding me, “With God, difficulties can be overcome immediately, but the impossible takes a little longer.”
In 1972, I was imprisoned in Czechoslovakia for Bible smuggling, yet God had given me a promise that I would be released on my birthday, 17 April. The night I received this promise, I fell asleep repeating the question over and over again: “Please, God, may I go home for my birthday?” In the morning as soon as I woke I began to pray again: “If I am to go home for my birthday, show me by another verse from the Bible. Show me one where it says You release a prisoner bound with chains.” I took up my Bible and continued reading. I came to Psalm 68:6, “God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains.” This was exactly what I had asked for. I was absolutely convinced. “I’m going home for my birthday!” I was so excited I could hardly contain my joy. I was certain it was true. Well, who wouldn’t get excited at a promise as wonderful as that?
May my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise. (Psalm 119:170, NIV)
Yet there was more to follow. Now He was piling promise upon promise. I read on through the Psalms. This time it was Psalm 119 that helped me. One phrase appears repeatedly – “according to thy word”. You find it at least seven times in different contexts, particularly in verse 170: “Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.” This was confirmation of the previous promises. I need have no more doubts, for the promise of my release was according to His Word. I read and re-read these verses and my soul became filled with peace and certainty. The Bible is God’s Word and cannot lie; then it must happen even as He promised. All the promises of man are meaningless compared to the might and power of God. He is greater than the communists. Did He not release Paul and Silas from prison in Philippi? Did He not also release Peter? Well, was God any different now? Was His power diminished? God never changes, nor do His promises, I, for one, would believe.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13, NIV)
The day before my birthday, April 16, 1973, a guard came to the place where the prisoners were working and called out my name. He was angry, “Why are you telling the other prisoners that you are going home?” Well, I did it because I wanted my fellow-prisoners to know that when it happened, it was not the Communists who let me out, but a demonstration of the Power of God to answer prayer! I preached Christ in prison, and now it must be a demonstration that the God who delivers from sin can also break open the prison door! The guard was shouting at me, showing me the seven-metre high wall, the machine-gun towers, the electric fences, the guard dogs: “No one can get out of this prison alive!” I returned to my workbench in despair, put my head in my hands and cried, “Oh God, how can I go home tomorrow? It’s absolutely impossible!” And then God asked me, “How do you know that you are saved?!” I began to argue, “I’m an evangelist, of course I know that I am saved! I do not rely on my feelings or on circumstances or on what people say – I rely on Your Word! And Your Word says: ‘Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved! It’s in Romans 10:13!” And God said, “Did I tell you that you were going to go home tomorrow?” I replied, “Yes, You did, but it’s impossible!” At that moment the very same guard who had been so angry with me, called out, “Hathaway! We’ve just received a telephone call from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – you’re to be released!” God is not a man, He never lies, He doesn’t change His mind, He doesn’t make mistakes, He does what He says! – Numbers 23:19. No, I was not released on that day, the 16th. But I did get out, on my birthday, 17th April, exactly as God had promised me.