Humble Hope in the God of Unlikely Converts

Many parents who reach out to Harvest USA need help finding hope. They tell us that their child’s newly-adopted LGBTQ+ identity is the hardest thing they’ve ever dealt with in their Christian life. They feel shattered and full of sadness for their child. They see their child absorbed in an ideology that represents a worldview of death and destruction, and ache to consider that their child may be among those we think of as “unlikely converts”—people who seem particularly distant and hard toward the Lord.

Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), and these parents know that their child is out in the far country stumbling along, often barely getting by. Generally, the stories we hear are not of happy, flourishing young people but depressed, anxious, and angry sons or daughters who have lost their way. Unlikely converts. In light of this, as a parent, it’s easy to find yourself losing hope and full of dread.

There Is Hope for Unlikely Converts

Particularly over the last few years, many parents with children identifying somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum are dealing with the devastation of trans ideology gone mad. Their sons and daughters have taken hormones, had surgeries to mutilate their bodies, and totally changed their outward appearance, mannerisms, and personalities. We hear of children identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual having introduced same-sex partners and children conceived by artificial insemination into their wider Christian families.

Parents must wrestle with how to handle these constantly changing dynamics. It’s a maze for them to navigate. They go from one shock to another, trying desperately to get their footing, to hope in God, to love their son or daughter—but not always knowing exactly what that looks like. Into this despair, I’d like to offer a few biblical examples of Christ bringing new life and hope to unlikely converts.

A Canaanite Prostitute

First, consider Rahab the prostitute from Joshua 6:17–23. Rahab was a Canaanite. The Canaanites were a wicked people, as evidenced in Leviticus 18:3–26. God was clear that the children of Israel were not to behave like the Canaanites, who were an abomination to him. Yet, God chose to show his mercy and grace to this Canaanite woman and gave her faith. In Hebrews 11:31, in the passage known as the hall of faith, we read, “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.” Not only does God save this unlikely convert, but he also uses her to deliver herself, her family, and his people—and even places her within the lineage of Jesus (Matt. 1:5).

A Moabite Widow

Further along in redemptive history, we meet Ruth, the Moabitess (Ruth 1–4). The Moabites were a pagan and idolatrous nation that did not serve Yahweh, but many false gods. They were proud, as evidenced in Isaiah 16:6, 7 where Isaiah says, “We have heard of the pride of Moab—how proud he is!—of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; in his idle boasting he is not right.Therefore, let Moab wail for Moab, let everyone wail.” Yet, here again, God chooses to save Ruth out of this evil nation and people, to bring her to Jerusalem and God’s people, and to have her kinsman-redeemer, Boaz, marry her. Not only that, but God blesses Boaz and Ruth with a son, Obed—who would beget Jesse, who would beget David. So, Ruth would not only be saved, but her offspring would also be in the line of Jesus!

A Samaritan Woman

Or think of the Samaritan woman at the well and how Jesus graciously interacted with her (John 4:9–42). The Jews did not generally have anything to do with the Samaritans, so the fact that Jesus spoke to this Samaritan woman and took a good bit of time to explain the gospel to her—to show that he had come to offer her new life in him—is astonishing. When his disciples came back, “they marveled that he was talking with a woman” (v. 27). And in verse 39, we read, “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’” We see again God working in an unlikely convert. He saved her and made her a witness for the Lord to show his mercy, bringing  other unlikely converts to hope in God, too.

An Ethiopian Eunuch

Finally, consider the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26–40. Eunuchs were excluded from the people of God in Deuteronomy 23:1. Yet, God chose to bring the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch through the apostle Philip. An angel of the Lord directed Philip to Gaza in the desert, where he met the Ethiopian eunuch, and we see this beautiful exchange. The eunuch asks Philip to explain the Scriptures he is reading in Isaiah, showing humility and teachableness. Philip is able to help this eunuch, who has come to Jerusalem to worship God, understand the way of salvation through the Christ who has already come. God will go to whatever lengths necessary, overcoming all obstacles, to save the sinner in need of his grace—and he does it through his servants. In his time and according to his will, the Lord’s plans will triumph even over unlikely converts.

Unlikely Converts and Their Parents Find Hope in Our Rescuing God

Dear parent, you are loved by God as his child. He hears your cries for your son or daughter. In Psalm 56:8 David writes, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” He knows the burdens you carry. He is not sleeping; he is not unengaged. He is not callous to your groanings. He is working. He is arranging all the pieces on the chess board and has not forgotten the unlikely convert you’re pleading for.

Consider Anne Steele, a hymnist who lived in the 1700s. She suffered great loss when she was young, and out of that suffering wrote the hymn Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul. The last stanza is helpful for weary parents of wayward children:

Thy mercy seat is open still,

Here let my soul retreat;

With humble hope attend Thy will,

And wait beneath Thy feet.

Our God is mighty to save and delights to save the most unlikely converts. His Word recounts stories of rescue—of lost people finding hope—over and over again. Your story and your child’s story are not finished.