No Loitering.

Articles

0

Since he was a boy, David struggled with discouragement and depression. After all, his father passed away when he was only nine years old and just a few years later, at the age of fourteen, his mother died as well. Who could blame him for such despondency?

As if this wasn’t enough, this young man spent the majority of his life wrestling with the plagues of sickness. At twenty-two years old, he began to manifest the unstoppable symptoms of tuberculosis, the very disease that would strangle the life out of him until his last breath, at the early age of twenty-nine.

A person in this condition needs continual medical attention and care, not to mention a stable environment to get adequate rest. But then again, only so much could be done with a person in such a condition during the 1740’s. Someone with tuberculosis often experiences sleepless nights. And, if fortunate to get any sleep, often awakes only to find themselves in a cold puddle of sweat. Days are spent coughing up blood, attempting to hold down the contents of their last meal, while straining for the strength to take another breath. David’s experience was no different, only he had no adequate shelter to ward off the bitter winter winds common in New Jersey. To make matters worst, the very smoke from the fire that was intended to warm his stricken body only served to aggravate his lungs resulting in more coughing and blood, thus driving him outside into the cold to get his breath.

Food was limited. Resources were scare. But, David wasn’t found curled up in a corner of a little hut somewhere feeling sorry for him self. Far from it, he was on a mission for God to take the message of Christ to the American Indians. It was a lonely mission, full of hardship. Yet, through sleepless nights, hunger filled mornings and cough infested days, he endured. More than endured, David blazed a trail that many over the last two hundred and fifty years have been inspired to journey. Perhaps like no other figure in modern history, David Brainerd has influenced countless individuals to take up God’s call to become a Missionary and share the message of Christ to the ends of the world.

What infuses an individual with such passion to be able to endure such affliction? All we have are his personal journal entries which chronicle the brief four years he worked among the American Indians, prior to breathing his last breath at the young age of twenty nine. The following excerpts from David Brainerd’s journal gives some insight into his source of strength and motivation. He writes,

“Oh I longed to fill the remaining moments all for God! Though my body was so feeble, and wearied with preaching and much private conversation, yet I wanted to sit up all night to do something for God. To God the giver of these refreshments, be glory forever and ever; Amen.” (April 17, 1747)

In another place he shared,

“My soul was refreshed and comforted, and I could not but bless God,
who had enabled me in some good measure to be faithful in the day past. Oh, how sweet it is to be spent and worn out for God!” (February 21, 1746)

“I am engaged to ‘press towards the mark’ day by day. O that I may feel this continual hunger, and not be retarded, but rather animated by every cluster from Canaan, to reach forward in the narrow way, for the full enjoyment and possession of the heavenly inheritance!”

Brainerd says that there was a “continual hunger” deep within him. This was a hunger greater than any earthly desires for physical comfort and reprieve from sickness. A desire, he says, to be “animated by every cluster from Canaan.” Canaan is a metaphor of God’s promises. It speaks of a desire to see God’s will manifested here on earth, through us. It denotes a life that is lived with intentionality and purpose. Brainerd wasn’t content merely being a Christian who believed all the right things about God. That’s important, but, he wanted his life to count for something. He longed to make a difference in the world. To be “spent and worn out for God.”

There’s a phrase in his journal that has captured my heart. Brainerd wrote,

“Oh that I may never loiter in my heavenly journey!”

To “loiter,” means to “stand around with no apparent purpose.” You’re just there. Standing. Breathing. Existing. But, there’s no apparent purpose to your existence. Brainerd’s heart cry was that on this journey called life – this heavenly journey – that he would never be found merely loitering. Rather, he would “press toward the mark day by day… reaching forward in the narrow way.”

The life of David Brainerd calls me to reach for God and pursue the living Christ with all that is within. His example inspires me to not be content with knowing God or resting assure of my eternal destination. No! Brainerd’s life beckons me to rise up with passion, regardless of the earthly difficulties that surround on every side. His story challenges me to not merely stand around with no apparent purpose. Rather, to prayerfully discover what God has created me to do in this world, throwing myself into it with my whole being.

“Oh, that I may never loiter in my heavenly journey.”
(David Brainerd 1718-1747)