Daily Devotional for October 12, 2022
Many Languages
The sun felt so hot Keisha thought she might melt like the chocolate she left in the jeep yesterday. “How much farther to the market?” she asked Fatmata.
“Not far!” answered her new friend.
Keisha had met Fatmata that morning, her first day at her new school. Keisha’s father had taken a nursing position at the hospital in Mattru Jong, a town in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The family had moved to Mattru from New York the week before. Keisha hadn’t had time to explore, so Fatmata offered to show her around.
When they reached the marketplace, Keisha was amazed. Women wearing colorful fabric around their heads and hips were selling peppers, cassava, balls of groundnut paste, rice, dried fish, mangoes, and papayas. The food sat in bowls on wooden tables or on fabric spread on the dirt. It didn’t look or sound anything like grocery stores back home.
“What language are they speaking?” Keisha asked.
“Mostly Krio,” said Fatmata. “It’s our trading language. Some are speaking Mende, the tribal language of Mattru. School is taught in English, so most of us speak all three.”
“I wish I knew three languages!” said Keisha.
When Keisha got home, her family sat down to a dinner of groundnut stew over rice. She was still getting used to the hot peppers, but it was delicious!
“Dad, why are there so many languages?” Keisha asked.
Dad put down his spoonful of stew. “The Bible tells us people used to speak one language. Sadly, they only cared about making themselves great instead of trusting and obeying God. They even thought they could build a tower to heaven on their own, so God caused them to speak different languages so they couldn’t communicate and then scattered them over the earth.”
“The Tower of Babel!” exclaimed Keisha.
Dad nodded. “But later in the Bible, Jesus tells His disciples to go and tell everyone that He died and rose again to save them from sin. When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, the apostles preached the gospel to a crowd that spoke many different languages, and everyone understood. It was a miracle! And God continues to make a way for people everywhere to hear the good news of Jesus, no matter what language they speak.”
“Wow,” said Keisha. “I can’t wait to tell Fatmata about this!”
-Bonnie Carr
How about you?
Did you know that God wants each of us to tell others about Jesus and how much He loves them? You don’t have to travel to another country to do that. You can tell your friends, neighbors, and family members. You can invite them to church or youth group so they can learn about Jesus. Trust God to use you wherever you are to help spread the good news of salvation to people all over the world.
Thank you for reading this Keys for Kids devotional! Did you enjoy the story? Has Keys for Kids been an encouragement to you and your family? If so, would you please consider supporting Keys For Kids Ministries in our effort to continue to provide these daily devotionals to children around the world?