“Nothing earthly will make me give up my work in despair. I encourage myself in the Lord my God and go forward.” (From the diary of David Livingstone)

“Friends, I have forgotten all I had to say.” With those words the young missionary candidate to China left the pulpit and rushed out of the church, leaving his congregation in a wondering stare. The directors of the London Missionary Society, hearing of this account, decided that this young man would never make a missionary. The young man, David Livingstone, would have been dismissed on the spot if one of the directors had not spoken up in his favor and persuaded the others to give him a second chance.

Having been given a second chance, David Livingstone gained approval of the missionary society and was fully accepted as a missionary candidate. Livingstone prepared himself thoroughly for his work. He prepared himself by studying medicine as well as studying theology.

His original desire and preparations had been to serve God as a missionary to China. However, China became closed to missions during this period of time due to the “Opium War.” The directors of the mission then suggested to Livingstone that he go to the West Indies as a missionary. Livingstone felt that serving in the West Indies would be too much like serving at home.

His heart was already considering the vast continent of Africa when by chance he met Robert Moffat, one of the best-known missionaries of that day. One Day Moffat was home on leave when Livingstone asked him if he thought he would “do for Africa.” Moffat replied in words that became the guiding rule for the rest of David Livingstone’s life. Moffat answered, “You will do for Africa if you do not go to an old station, but advance toward unoccupied ground. In the north I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages, where no missionary has ever been.”

David Livingstone’s heart from that moment on belonged to Africa. It was God who had spoken to Livingstone’s heart through the lips of Robert Moffat. On December 8, 1840, he sailed in the George for South Africa.

The Africa that Livingstone found was for the most part an unknown world. To the European mind, it was a dark and mysterious continent. This vast land of pygmies and giants and cannibals and subterranean rivers was fascinating. Africa to the world at large was a mere outline. Very little was known of the interior beyond the coastal settlements.

David Livingstone spent his life exploring the dark continent, plodding deep into the interior where no white man had ever been; he even crossed the continent. His goal was to open up the continent for the Gospel of Christ.

Livingstone saw much of death during his life. He witnessed the murder of hundreds of Africans by the slave traders. He worked constantly against them and accomplished much towards having slavery outlawed. Countless times Livingstone’s life was in danger. His philosophy regarding his danger was described in a single statement, “A man seems almost immortal until his work is done!”

On one of his journeys his wife, the daughter of Robert Moffat, died of a jungle disease and had to be buried along the trail. The continued trail through Africa became for Livingstone a trail of tears, sickness, frustration and many times despair, but still he plodded on, driven by the will of God to open up Africa for the Gospel.

Deep in the heart of Africa, still plodding on but sick unto death, he wrote in his diary, “Nothing earthly will make me give up my work in despair. I encourage myself in the Lord my God and go forward.” On April 29 of that year, they reached a village where they found accommodations in an empty hut, offered by a friendly chief.

It was apparent that Livingstone could not be moved and so they left him in bed. His faithful servants, Susi and Chuma, cared for him hourly. In the early hours of the morning of May 1, David Livingstone crawled from his bed to kneel and pray. His wife dead, his people thousands of miles away, his body in pain in a dark heathen hut in the heart of unknown Africa, Livingstone slipped out of his earthly body and ascended to Glory.

His servants found him dead beside the bed, still kneeling. They cut his heart from his body and buried it there on the spot. They then carried his body to the coast to British authorities to be carried to England for burial. For over 1,000 miles, they fought their way through hostile tribes with that body, never allowing it to touch the ground, so much they reverenced their master.

David Livingstone died as alone as any man could die. We know, however, from his testimony that he never really felt alone. When speaking to a group in Britain, he had said that the abiding presence of Christ was the one thing that kept him going.

When Livingstone first embarked on his journey to Africa, some friends accompanied him to the ship. One friend in particular had encouraged him not to go. To this friend he turned and said, “Jesus said, ‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’” Then Livingstone said, “And that, sir, is the word of a gentleman.”

Some years ago on my first trip to London, I visited Westminster Abbey. In the middle of that giant cathedral, I stood at the grave of David Livingstone. I thought of all that he went through in Africa. I thought of his wife dying there and his hardships. One question loomed in my mind: Why? Why would a man go through all of that? What could possibly motivate a life of suffering like that?

Several years later I found the answer to the question of Westminster Abbey. I was in Scotland visiting the home place of Livingstone. I saw the bed where he slept as a boy. I looked at the tools he worked with in a nearby mill from early morning until after dark. I read the actual letters that he had written. Then I saw it – his motto as a young man – the theme of his life embedded in a stained glass window. As a young man Livingstone had picked up a pen and had written, “I WILL PLACE NO VALUE ON ANYTHING THAT I HAVE OR POSSESS EXCEPT AS IT RELATES TO THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST.”

Here was the answer to my question at Westminster Abbey. This was the reason he had gone so far and had done so much. It was his personal estimation of Jesus.

“I will place no value on ANYTHING I have … except as it relates to the Kingdom of Christ.”