A Lesson from David Brainerd

David Brainerd was a missionary to the American Indians in the mid 1700s. His ministry to the Indians began in 1743 and lasted til 1747, when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 29. A biography of Brainerd's life entitled "The Life and Diary of David Brainerd" was compiled by Jonathan Edwards in 1749, shortly after Brainerd's death. As you may have guessed, the book consists partly of Brainerd's journal entries. Many well known Christians such as John Wesley, William Carey, David Livingstone, Andrew Murray, and Jim Elliot considered David Brainerd to be the most influential factor, other than the Bible, on their practices in missions (The Hidden Smile of God, John Piper pg 131-132). Here is an excerpt from his journal (taken from Piper's book) that I read tonight.

Wednesday, April 20, 1743
"Set apart this day for fasting and prayer, to bow my soul before God for the bestowment of divine grace; especially that all my spiritual afflictions and inward distresses might be sanctified to my soul. And endeavored also to remember the goodness of God to me the year past, this day being my birthday. Having obtained help of God, I have hitherto lived and am now arrived at the age of twenty-five years. My soul was pained to think of my barrenness and deadness; that I have lived so little to the glory of the eternal God. I spent the day in the woods alone, and there poured out my complaint to God. Oh, that God would enable me to live to His glory for the future!"

Here are the words I found so amazing: "I have lived so little for the glory of the eternal God." This is the man who has influenced missions in a drastic way, including the lives of the well known Christians mentioned above. Yet he speaks of "barrenness and deadness" and living "so little to the glory of the eternal God!" Brainerd was expelled from Yale for standing firm on religious issues, was eventually ordained in the ministry, set out to preach the gospel to the American Indians, was known for spending days in prayer and fasting, and later died of disease in the wilderness that was his mission field. That, to me, sounds like the farthest thing from barrenness and deadness. I think what really struck me in all of this was his humility. After hearing about Brainerd's life, we would tend to label him a "great Christian." But he was not a great Christian at all-and Brainerd recognized that. He had no merits of his own; Christ was the reason he accomplished so much. I hope that no matter what we do in life we are able to keep in mind that our efforts succeed not because of our greatness, but because of the greatness of our God. This should prompt us to glorify Him all the more!