Isobel Kuhn (Inspiring Women in Missions, Pt. 3)

Sometimes it's tempting to view missionaries as super-Christians. But Isobel is so honest in her books about her own shortcomings and continuing need for the Lord.

Isobel Kuhn
(Inspiring Women in Missions, Pt. 3)

This week's devotions are written by my friend Jessica Hermann, former director of our college ministry at Great Hills Baptist Church.

- Pastor Danny

"Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God."

(Hebrews 6:1)

Isobel Kuhn was born Isobel Miller in Toronto, Canada in 1901. Though she was raised in a Christian family and her father was a preacher, she never had a personal relationship with Christ. While in college, she encountered a professor who made fun of Christians, and Isobel resolved to never believe in something just because her parents had said so. She labeled herself as more of an agnostic and went on to fill her life with parties, but the idea of God never fully left her. She went on searching. Isobel later wrote a book about her experiences called "By Searching". This idea was a theme of her life. And search for God she did.

She recalls a prayer she lifted up one day during this season of her life: "An idea struck me. No one was watching to see if I were a fool or not... God, if there be a God... if You will prove to me that You are, and if You will give me peace, I will give You my whole life. I'll do anything You ask me to do, go where You send me, obey You all my days."

God certainly answered this prayer. It reminds me of Jeremiah 29:13, where God says, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." What a promise!

This prayer of hers would be fulfilled in multiple ways. First, God certainly did prove Himself to Isobel. She sought God though reading the gospels, attending a Bible study, and moving in with a Christian family. The Lord revealed Himself to her, and Isobel became a Christian.

Yet her searching did not stop there. She continued to go on searching, not about whether or not God was real, but to know Him more and more. Then her prayer was further realized as Isobel did indeed live a life of deep obedience to the Lord as she had promised in her prayer. This obedience led her to China, where she served with her husband John as a missionary for China Inland Mission.

While attending a conference called the "Firs", Isobel heard about a people group in China called the Lisu people who were largely open to the Gospel, and the Lord was doing a great work among them. Isobel and her husband John went on to give much of their lives to share the Gospel with and disciple Lisu people until political unrest forced them to move to Thailand.

Hebrews 6:1 says, "Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God." Before leaving for China, Isobel encouraged the ladies she was discipling with these words: "Let us go on. The search is not ended. We have only begun to explore our eternal, unfathomable God. Let us leave behind the elementary teaching about Christ and go forward to adult understanding. Let us not lay over and over again the foundational truths... No, if God allows, let us go on." (By Searching, pg. 157)

I love this idea of always going on searching. Sometimes it's tempting to view missionaries or leaders as some sort of super-Christians. But Isobel is so honest in her books about her own shortcomings and her own continuing need for the Lord. She has a heart to always know God more. Do you have a relationship with the Lord? Go on searching. There is more to know of Him. There is greater love to be found for Him. There is deeper obedience to be uncovered. There is no end to His beauty and His greatness. Yes, go on searching out who God is. May it never be said of us that we were content with what we knew of God. Let us too go on searching. Oh, what wonders await us as we seek to know our Savior more and more.