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‘Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest’, Prov. 6. 6-8.
In 1993 my grandfather, Kenneth Munro, suddenly died when I was away studying at university. He had been a spiritual mentor to me and a huge influence in my life. It was at this time, aged 21, that I told my father, Gordon Munro, of my desire to preach the gospel on a full-time basis. My father was incredibly important to me. He was a father, leader, guide, overseer and ruler to me. Even though I knew he had lymphatic cancer, I thought he would live on; I believed the Lord had shown me this. He was very able in the scriptures. He lived and served in our community, preached the word, took the local funerals, and had a shepherd heart. I had a few series of gospel meetings with my father, and he really connected with people. Seventy-five of the neighbours in the street where he lived attended the last series of tent meetings which he had in his own garden with brother Jack Hay This has never been repeated.
When he died, the bottom fell out of my world. Not only had I lost my dad, but my ‘big plan’ was also in tatters. The assembly was small and there were, at that time, few to teach and preach. On the day of his funeral there were hundreds of mourners, and many came back to the house afterwards. I did not want to speak to anyone, and I went to my room distraught. I could not read the Bible as I was too grief stricken, but the Bible fell open on the bed. It landed on Proverbs chapter 6. Verses 6 to 8 were a direct word from the Lord to me. The ants did not have a ruler, overseer or guide either, but they carried on working. The Lord was telling me clearly that there was work to do in the assembly and in our community; I had a work to do from the Lord and I had better get on with it! This scripture inspired me to knuckle down and do a simple work for the Lord in the assembly.
My wife and I raised our family of three children, and although there were difficult days we have been blessed and looking back we can say ‘hitherto hath the Lord helped us’, 1 Sam 7. 12.
In the course of time, I did leave my secular employment to preach the gospel, but it was many years after this. The assembly had grown significantly, and many teachers had been raised up allowing us to leave from time to time to have meetings elsewhere. We were taught that ‘He shall direct thy paths’ even if it is not the path we initially wanted to tread, Prov. 3. 6. God’s ways are best.
