It might surprise you that the journal of David Brainerd has encouraged hundreds of thousands of Christians and missionaries over the last 250 years. Though he never intended it to be read by anyone, Jonathan Edwards gave a gift to Christendom by publishing his experiences, his hurts, his sorrows and his victories. In other words, Brainerd’s journal resonated with fellow Christians because is a brutally honest account of his journey to the Celestial City.
Brainerd was a man of great highs and great lows. In future blog posts, I will examine with more exactness his bouts of melancholy, but here I wanted to simply show some examples of his legendary journal.
Wednesday, May 18.
“My circumstances are such, that I have no comfort, of any kind, but what I have in God. I live in the most lonesome wilderness; have but one single person to converse with, that can speak English. Most of the talk I hear, is either Highland Scotch or Indian. I have no fellow-Christian to whom I might unbosom myself, or lay open my spiritual sorrows; with whom I might take sweet counsel in conversation about heavenly things, and join in social prayer. I live poorly with regard to the comforts of life: most of my diet consists of boiled corn, hasty-pudding, &c. I lodge on a bundle of straw, my labour is hard and extremely difficult, and I have little appearance of success to comfort me.”
Lord’s day, Dec. 26.
“Felt much sweetness and tenderness in prayer, especially my whole soul seemed to love my worst enemies, and was enabled to pray for those that are strangers and enemies to God with a great degree of softness and fervor.”
Wednesday, Aug. 18.
“Spent most of this day in prayer and reading. — I see so much of my own extreme vileness, that I feel ashamed and guilty before God and man; I look to myself like the vilest fellow in the land: I wonder that God stirs up his people to be so kind to me.”
These three entries reveal the spectrum of Brainerd’s affections, which are parallel to many Christians today. Now admittedly, the degree of commitment or godliness vary in every man or woman, but within the “missionary to the Indians” we see his heart and therefore, we see into our heart and sometimes we see a glimpse of what dwells in God’s heart.
Do you journal? Need some reasons to give it a try?
Michael Hyatt, a New York Times best-seller, leadership guru and Christian writer, shares a few practical benefits of journaling:
Clarify my thinking. Writing in general helps me disentangle my thoughts. Journaling takes it to a new level. Because I am not performing in front of a “live audience,” so to speak, I can really wrestle through the issues.
Ask important questions. A journal is not merely a repository for the lessons I am learning but also the questions I’m asking. If there’s one thing I have discovered, it’s the quality of my questions determine the quality of my answers.
Connect with my heart. I’m not sure I can really explain this one, but journaling has helped me monitor the condition of my heart. Solomon said “above all else” we are to guard it (see Proverbs 4:23). It’s hard to do that when you lose touch with it.
To read the rest of Michael’s excellent post, just click the link below:
