Zambia Hunt

I picked up “David Livingstone, The Truth Behind the Legend” by Rob Mackenzie during a trip to the city of Livingstone, Zambia, about 20 years ago. It is my favorite biography of Livingstone. This is a comprehensive biography that delves into the life and legacy of the renowned Scottish explorer and missionary. The book chronicles Livingstone’s extraordinary journeys through Africa, his efforts to abolish the slave trade, and his commitment to spreading Christianity across the continent.

Mackenzie meticulously documents Livingstone’s explorations of the African interior, including his “discovery” of Victoria Falls, and provides detailed insights into his character, gospel motivations, and the challenges he faced with illness, inhospitable environments, and conflicts with local tribes.

Through a blend of historical detail, engaging narrative, and many quotations from Livingstone’s own journals, Mackenzie paints a vivid picture of Livingstone, the missionary who opened the interior of Africa to the gospel.

Here are a few of the quotations from the book that have impacted me:

On Seminary Training for Pastors in Africa:

“Livingstone cherished the thought of a seminary that would facilitate the spreading of “the word of God. “ He presented the matter to the missionaries but without success. Some saw the scheme as being premature and opposed it. Others did likewise as they insinuated that his object was to impress the directors of the Missionary Society and so be promoted to Professor. Annoyed and hurt you withdrew the proposal, and the burden for the school was put aside, owing to the harsh words of a few stern men.” p.91

On the minimal fruit being seen in their gospel ministry:

“The conversion of a few, however, valuable their souls may be, cannot be put in the scale against the knowledge of the truth spread over the whole country. In this, I do and will exult. As in India, we are doomed to perpetual disappointment, but the knowledge of Christ spreads over the masses. We are like voices crying in the wilderness. We prepare the way for a glorious future, in which missionaries telling the same tale of love will convert by every sermon.” p.141

On the idea of sacrifice:

“For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice, which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? it is emphatically no sacrifice. Say, rather, it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause and cause the spirit to waver and the soul to sink, but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory, which shall hereafter be revealed in and for us. I have never made a sacrifice. Of this, we ought not to talk when we remember the great sacrifice, which He made who left His Father‘s throne on high to give Himself for us.” p.195-6

Rob Mackenzie’s masterful biography of David Livingstone leaves readers with an appreciation for this pioneering missionary’s incredible life and legacy. We bear witness to his unwavering faith and conviction to spread the gospel across the continent of Africa, selflessly laboring for years despite overwhelming challenges and minimal outward fruit. I highly recommend this book!