Bananas

Want a picture of how this works? Consider Darlene Dieblier Rose. In her autobiography, Evidence Not Seen, she tells of her career as a missionary in the Asian Pacific during WW II. She was imprisoned along with her husband by the Japanese. He died and she suffered horribly.

She was infected by the food she was given and often found worms and insects swimming around in it. She developed dysentery and diarrhea and her condition became very debilitating and embarrassing for her. She just prayed and asked the Lord to heal her. Later, when the Epsom salts and quinine came, she refused to take them and all symptoms left her.

Later, she looked out the window of her filthy cell and glimpsed someone with some bananas. She began to crave a bite of banana so badly, she could hardly stand it. Everything inside her wanted one. She could smell them and taste their cool softness on her tongue. Dropping to her knees, she prayed, “Lord, I’m not asking you for a whole bunch . . . I just want one. Just one banana, Lord.Then she began to rationalize. How could God possibly get a banana to her through the prison walls? “There was more of a chance of the moon falling out of the sky than of one of (the guards) bringing me a banana,” she realized. Bowing her head again, she prayed, “Lord, there’s no one here who could get a banana to me. There’s no way for You to do it. Please don’t think I’m not thankful for the rice porridge. It’s just that—well, those bananas looked so delicious!”

The next morning, she heard the guard coming down the concrete walkway. The door opened, and it was the warden of the POW camp who had taken kindly to her. He looked down at her emaciated body and, without saying a word, turned and left, locking the door behind him. Sometime later, she heard another set of footsteps coming down the walkway. The key turned in the lock, and the door opened. The guard threw a huge yellow bundle into the cell, saying, “They’re yours!” She counted them. It was a bundle of ninety-two bananas!

As she began peeling her bananas, Ephesians 3:20 came to her mind: (God) is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

There in the middle of the prison cell she was severely tested. There in the middle of that prison cell, Satan tried to tempt her to despair. But, there in that prison cell, she prayed and the Lord delivered her! He kept a test from becoming an unbeatable temptation.