Book Report: “Shadow of the Almighty” by Elisabeth Elliot
He is no fool who reads “The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot.”
Like many of you, I had heard of Jim Elliot but never read the books. Elliot was a Christian missionary who, along with his four companions, was stabbed through the heart by the spear of a Huaorani tribesman in Ecuador, in 1956. His new bride, Elisabeth, took up the cause and returned to the tribe to offer forgiveness and give the mission another go. Overwhelmed by her perseverance, many in the village gave her and others a hearing and came to believe in the God who would create in her such an ability to forgive them for murdering her husband.
The story of the Huaorani’s conversion is told in “Through Gates of Splendor.” But the prequel to that book is this one, “Shadow of the Almighty.” Following his death, Elisabeth compiled her late husband’s journals and letters to render the account of his short life in his own words. The result is a unique sort of biography with almost little of Elisabeth’s voice, composed entirely around Jim’s reflections and prayers—words he never thought would see the light of day, let alone mass publication.
But aren’t we glad they did. Jim was a supernova. He was an explosion of spiritual energy that lit up the sky but then disappeared before anyone could notice. We have Elisabeth to thank for bringing his thoughts and life to light, revealing to us what a unique man of God he was.
Even as a young undergraduate at Wheaton, Jim was immersed in his study of Greek and Hebrew like a scholar, and eager to do mission work with his burgeoning language skills. On campus, he was combination Eddie Haskell and Billy Graham: the boy every mother (and girl) adores and the guy no one wants to see at parties because he’ll start droning on (and on and on) about the power of the gospel to change lives. Once in the mission field he regales us with vivid descriptions of building schools and houses and traipsing through jungles to deliver supplies and good news to primitive Ecuadoran villages. Reading about this indefatigable literary man carrying his books of poetry in one hand and a sharpened machete in the other, battling malaria and sleeping in mud…well, it put into perspective the things that frustrate me as a 21st-century middle-class American pastor. (Oh no, the air conditioning is out in the sanctuary again. Whatever will we do?!)
I felt led to read this book—like, God actually told me to. Last week my co-worker recommended the book at a staff meeting, and a few hours later the title was suggested to me again by another author who added that many Christian leaders find ongoing inspiration from the biographies of Christian saints, like Jim Elliot.
Getting the point, I borrowed the book and dug in.
It became obvious to me why the Holy Spirit had me move it to the top of my stack. I just turned 45. I’m aging, and slowing down. With age comes wisdom—sometimes, and hopefully. But what sometimes gets lost is passion, and I will freely confess that I can feel mine ebbing slowly away with the steady crawl of years. I could not help but wonder how 20 more years in the pastorate would have sobered Jim Elliot up, and maybe even calmed him down and made him more like me. What a mature servant he would have become had his youthful zeal been paired with age and experience! But I’m kind of glad he never had the chance to “calm down.” Instead, the world was left with the memory of Jim Elliot as a man too on fire for Jesus to make things more complicated than they need to be, as I sometimes do. He believed people need to hear about Jesus immediately, before they die, and we must go tell them. So let us do that very thing, until we run out of breath or someone puts an end to the effort.
To sustain this youthful passion, Jim did crazy things. He prayed a lot and read the Bible at every opportunity. He believed that’s how the Holy Spirit spoke to him.
What craziness! Reading the Bible? Praying for guidance? I read my Bible. I pray. But I remember the days of college when as a newly inspired convert I did that to no end. And expectantly, believing the Lord would direct my paths. With family and pastoral responsibilities and the blessing of “experience,” there is less urge to pray and study—at least with that old college spark. By the end of Jim’s biography, though—and thanks to God—I was panting and pleading for the Spirit to relight my flame, lest the fire die in my bones.
Jim and I are not the same. He spent years being not-married to Elisabeth, for fear of hindering God’s purposes for him. (Elisabeth wrote a book about that, too: “Passion and Purity.”) I have a family and it is now my first ministry. I will not be going to the jungle. Also, I am committed to a life of radical discipleship, but do not have the freedom to give up my house or salary. What I can do is sacrifice anything possible to support the men and women like him who can go where I can’t. Also, Jim left America partly out of a disdain for things American: politics, materialism, spiritual apathy on every side. I hate those things, too, but am a little more willing to stay behind for the sake of my accursed countrymen.
But while we are different, I need more of Jim Elliot in my life. This 45-year-old bundle of aging bones is not too proud to learn his lessons from a 28-year-old spiritual wunderkind who gave his life to a degree I have not. I need his perspective, his passion, his constant dependence on God for guidance and encouragement. Though I doubt anybody will ever throw a spear through my heart (though you never know with my parishioners), I have blood still left in me to bleed. I have a heart still beating to give, a body still moving to offer. And while the tantalizing comforts of America and the encroaching mellowing of middle-age tempt me to settle into the good life and rest easy ‘till retirement, I best not forget who I am as a disciple of Christ who has been called to give up everything for all. I will regret doing so only if I forget what is my ultimate hope.
While “Shadow of the Almighty” includes many wonderful lines, which I hope you take time to read and ponder, Jim’s most famous quote will always be so. And it stabs me through the heart even as the Huaroani stabbed him: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Lord, let me never fear to give up what I must, to gain what I can. I need not take a spear to yet give my life for you.
By MRH (6/3/2019)