When you ask God for opportunities to serve Him, do you envision a Christian-owned workplace, serving in the nursery at church where all the babies sleep or softly coo throughout Sunday School, a neighborhood filled with Christian families excited to attend a weekly Bible study in your home? Be honest! Do we ever ask, “Father, can you please find a challenging and unyielding place, somewhere engulfed in darkness, somewhere there are no other Christians, and please let me be salt and light there?”

I can honestly say that prayer has not been one I uttered. But isn’t that precisely what we should be praying? Praying that we can be the salt and light so desperately needed in the world, pointing them to the Savior Who loves them? Sharing the Gospel “as we go.”

Recently, I was reading 2 Kings, and Chapter 17 captured my attention. Israel as a nation was once again in the cycle of following after a king who “did evil in the sight of the Lord.” They were worshipping other gods, practicing divination, and even sacrificing their children. In verse 20, we read, “The Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them in to the hands of spoilers until He had cast them out of His sight”(2 Kings 17:20 Amplified Bible).

The king of Assyrian took the Israelites into bondage and dispersed them throughout his kingdom. Then, the king brought in people from Babylon, Cuthah, and other regions and settled them in the cities of Samaria (2 Kings 17: 24). Once the invaders settled in, they began to live life as they always had, doing business, having families, worshiping their gods.

Verse 25 fascinates me. “At the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear and revere the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them” (Amplified Bible). Can you imagine? There you are, part of the winning team, selected to come in and settle a conquered nation, just going about your daily life. You are walking down the street, minding your business, and BAM! A lion appears out of nowhere and kills you….

Then, the local leaders sent word to the king of Assyria to report these strange and uncommon deaths. “ These nations you removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the manner in which the God of the land requires their worship. Therefore, He has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them because they do not know the manner of [worship demanded by] the God of the land.” After considering the problem, the king of Assyria came up with a plan that, frankly, was brilliant. He commanded that one of the priests and his helpers, who had previously been removed from Samaria, should be sent back to teach the people the law of the God of the land (vs. 27). Amazing! A heathen king commanded that his people learn to fear and revere the Lord so they could worship Jehovah as He commanded.

What were the reactions, concerns, fears, and struggles of the selected priest and his helpers? The king sent them back into Samaria to minister to, teach, and guide the enemies who displaced them and their families. We know the new residents were worshippers of many false gods. We know they did not fear the Lord nor obey His law, statutes, or ordinances. The Assyrian king sent them into a dark and spiritually corrupt land to reach those who had neither knowledge of nor desire for God. Wow, does their assignment sound familiar? Is God trusting you to be the salt and light, sharing the Gospel in a dark and difficult place? What is your answer to Him? Can He trust you to serve obediently and boldly proclaim His Name and the Gospel in this hard place?