Shoulder To Shoulder #1328 -- 2/6/23 ---- "Finding The Needle in the Haystack -- The Propulsion of Prayer"
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER is a weekly letter of encouragement Bob has written since 1997, covering many topics selected to
motivate people to be strong students of the Word and courageous witnesses of Jesus Christ. It is a personal letter of
encouragement to you, written solely to help "lift up hands that hang down".
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." -- Albert Einstein
“There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have -- a cheap Christianity which offends nobody,
and requires no sacrifice, which costs nothing, -- and is worth nothing.” – J. C. Ryle
Shoulder To Shoulder #1328 -- 2/6/23
Title: "Finding The Needle in the Haystack -- The Propulsion of Prayer"
My Dear Friend and Fellow Pilgrim Partner:
Greetings on another sunny but comfortable day in Yuma. It's another great day to be alive in Yuma -- anywhere, for that matter.
Today my brain feels like the agitator in a washing machine -- beating so many pieces of clothing around, that some of them end up twisted in knots.
On the one hand, God's blessings overwhelm my senses while, on the other, the wickedness of man overpowers my thinking. I am stunned -- numbed, perhaps -- at the glaring conflict between good and evil -- it was so evident in recent news reports, congressional activity, and the SOTU address by President of the United States on Tuesday night. Sandwiched between "prebuttals" by people like Tony Perkins (FRC founder) -- and "rebuttals" by people like Arkansas Governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the glaring differences in perception and claims could not be hidden.
One can only wonder how long such a divided -- fragmented is probably a better word -- political system can effectively function at all, much less efficiently. Even in the publicly acclaimed "assessments" of the President's speech revealed the great divide. I could not help but think of the many truths of scripture. The divide is deep; the chasm is undeniable. It is far more than political ideologies and far greater than political parties. Its roots go far deeper than socialism vs capitalism, democracy vs tyranny, or freedom vs. enslavement. Its roots are found far down in the subterranean bounds of fundamental issues, the matter of right and wrong -- of good and evil. The differences we see in our war of politics are birthed in the human hearts of both peasant and prince.
How can one otherwise explain claims that are unfounded, lies that are blatant, issues that are not confronted, and promises that are discarded?
"We get what we get because we do what we do; and we do what we do because we are who we are."
Frankly, I cannot recall a time in my life when I was more aware of the corruption of the human heart. Without Christ it is totally bankrupt and irreversibly depraved. I keep thinking -- how can any person who claims to be civilized, intelligent, and reasonable spew out such blatant and obvious lies as we hear from so many people in so many spheres of life??? It is like viewing an inoperable malignant tumor that has metastasized. It has spread throughout our culture so thoroughly that reversal is impossible -- apart from finding that hidden "needle in a haystack".
That's what I'd like to discuss today. I need not list the lies, the broken promises, the false claims, the flagrant violations, or the irrational ideologies swarming around Washington. Naming names and pointing at parties is a waste of time. Rather, what I'd like to do is try to point out where we must go if there is to be any hope for a cultural and moral reversal of our downward spiral as a nation.
It's time to find -- and use -- the long-lost "needle in the haystack", and I'd like to address that right after you take a quick look at . . .
QUOTES FOR THE WEEK:
> "I have a secret thought from some things I have observed, that God may perhaps design you for some singular service in the world." -- David Brainerd
> "Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed.” -- E.M. Bounds
> “As is the business of tailors to make clothes and cobblers to make shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.” – Martin Luther
> “God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.” -- John Wesley
> “Prayer is the one prime, eternal condition by which the Father is pledged to put the Son in possession of the world. Christ prays through His people.” -- E. M. Bounds
> “Pray causes things to happen that wouldn’t happen if you didn’t pray.” -- John Piper
> “The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.” – F.B. Meyer
> “Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure.” -- D.L. Moody
> "If you are a stranger to prayer, you are a stranger to the greatest source of power known to human beings.” – Billy Sunday
THE HAYSTACK BEFORE THE NEEDLE:
My thoughts today have been prompted by a post by William J. Federer in his daily American Minute in which he often writes about people in the past who helped shape in some way our nation. I found it a little odd that, in this particular post, he mentioned a person few people know anything about -- a young Presbyterian preacher named David Brainerd. One of ten siblings, he was born to Connecticut legislator, Hezekiah Brainerd and his wife, Dorothy on April 20, 1718.
Orphaned early in life and of poor health, one would think his life would not make much of an impact. His father died in 1727 when David was nine, and his mother died five years later. So, at age fourteen, most people would have seen nothing more in him than another "someone who lived and died". And, die he did, at the young age of 30 years following a bout with tuberculosis so severe that he spat up blood in its latter stages.
One wouldn't expect much from such a short and sickly life, but this was not to be the case with Brainerd, for in his short life he had significant influence on numerous notables for years to come -- people like Jonathan Edwards, William Carey, Jim Eliot -- and me, as I read his scarce writings and his story.
On July 12, 1739, now 20 years of age, Brainerd recorded having an experience of "unspeakable glory" that prompted in him a "hearty desire to exalt [God], to set him on the throne and to 'seek first his Kingdom'". Among other periodicals, this experience was recorded in the August, 1985 edition of Christian History and Biography Magazine. The passion of his heart was to live a life that would glorify God and would draw people to Christ. He once wrote, . . .
"Lord, let me make a difference for You that is utterly disproportionate to who I am."
Brainerd's "philosophy of life" was summed up in his own words: . . .
"We should always look upon ourselves as God's servants, placed in God's world, to do his work; and accordingly labour faithfully for him; not with a design to grow rich and great, but to glorify God, and do all the good we possibly can."
On another occasion, he expressed that same sentiment, writing, . . .
"I care not where I go, or how I live, or what I endure so that I may save souls. When I sleep I dream of them; when I awake they are first in my thoughts."
Brainerd reportedly practiced the normal custom of making entries in a diary where he penned personal observations, thoughts, and some of his prayers -- such as . . .
"Here am I, send me; send me to the ends of the earth; send me to the rough, the savage lost of the wilderness; send me from all that is called comfort on earth; send me even to death itself, if it be but in your service, and to promote your kingdom."
Well, God did just that. Brainerd became known as a result of his own writings and some who were impacted by His life, short though it was. He made only a handful of converts to Christ in his brief stay on earth, but became widely known in the 1800s due to books about him. In 1746 the Scottish Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge published his Journal in two parts, but probably one of the most influential books about him was written in 1749 by the revered Jonathan Edwards, when he wrote, An Account of the Life of the Late Reverend Mr. David Brainerd.
You can actually download a free copy of the book in a variety of formats, including Kindle and PDF (I did both) at https://archive.org/details/accountoflifeofr00brai.
Edwards' book gained immediate recognition from none other than the eighteenth-century theologian John Wesley. Upon reading it, Wesley declared, "Let every preacher read carefully over the Life of David Brainerd." There was probably no book, other than the Bible itself, that inspired and motivated missionaries during the Eighteenth Century as did Edwards' book. If anyone should understand the heart of David Brainerd, Edwards would be one who would. They had become fast friends, and Brainerd often stayed in the Edwards home.
When he became ill, he first stayed in the home of Jonathan Dickenson, a Presbyterian minister who would become first president of what would be known as Princeton University. From there Brainerd moved to Edwards' home where for the final year of his life he was nursed by Jerusha Edwards, Jonathan's seventeen-year-old daughter. Their friendship grew, they fell in love, and eventually they were engaged. Sadly, he died from tuberculosis on October 9, 1747, at the age of 29, before they could be married. Jerusha died in February 1748 as a result of contracting tuberculosis from having cared for Brainerd his final year.
Adding to Brainerd's influence, a number of our founding fathers were impacted by Brainerd's life as they read of his sacrifice and devotion. For all practical purposes, Brainerd's life and his calling as a missionary to the native Americans of his generation can be easily identified as the origin of the missionary movement among Presbyterians. It was during these years that the First Great Awakening took place and the American colonies declared independence from England. Edwards, Wesley, and Whitfield are generally recognized as the major voices of the Gospel during America's formation.
William Carey also became a major motivation, particularly for modern missions among Baptists. In 1785, Carey was appointed as the schoolmaster for the village of Moulton, MA, and was also invited to serve as pastor to the local Baptist church. It was during this time that he read Jonathan Edwards', Account of the Life of the Late Rev. David Brainerd. It was this book, along with the journals of the explorer James Cook, that Carey became concerned with spreading the Gospel throughout the world, leading to his eventual calling to India. He was soon to be known as the father of the modern missionary movement.
FINDING THE NEEDLE:
Following the fervor of American independence in 1776 and the ratification of the American Constitution in 1789, spiritual vitality began to wane somewhat, and godlessness began to inevitably creep into the culture. But then, in the early 1800s, a Second Great Awakening Revival swept across the country. In 1806, five Williams College students met by the Hoosic River in Massachusetts near a grove of trees in what was known as Sloan's Meadow to discuss how to reach the world with the Gospel. While Brainerd and Carey are seen as those who planted the seed of missions in the hearts of many -- including these five students, who met twice weekly for prayer and discussing foreign missions. The meeting itself is seen by many as the key event that led to the development of American Protestant missions over the coming decades and century.
These five Williams College students, Samuel Mills, James Richards, Francis LeBaron Robbins, Harvey Loomis, and Byram Green, had gathered to discuss the spiritual welfare of the people of Asia. However, their discussion was interrupted by a brief rain shower that sent them running to the safety of a nearby haystack. While there, they prayed and committed themselves to world missions. Arthur Latham Perry's 1904 book, Williamstown and Williams College, contains Perry's statement, . . .
"The brevity of the shower, the strangeness of the place of refuge, and the peculiarity of their topic of prayer and conference all took hold of their imaginations and their memories."
In 1808 the Haystack Prayer group and other Williams students began a group called "The Brethren.", not to be confused with "the Brethren Church". Its purpose was "effect, in the persons of its members, a mission to" people -- particularly in foreign lands -- who were not Christians. They formed the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1810, and by 1812 the group had sent its first missionaries to the non-Christian world, specifically to India.
During the 19th century, it sent missionaries to China, Hawaii, and other nations in southeast Asia, establishing hospitals and schools at its mission stations. Many of its missionaries undertook translation of the Bible into native languages, and some created written languages where none had existed before. Thousands of missionaries were sent to Asia, and they taught numerous indigenous peoples. Within 150 years, it sent out 5,000 to mission fields around the world.
BEYOND THE NEEDLE:
We don't know much about most of those five young men, but Samuel Mills was almost certainly the most influential among the group and also played a role in the founding of the American Bible Society and the United Foreign Missionary Society. You can read more of his fruitful life at https://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/l-m/mills-samuel-john-jr-1783-1818/.
James Richards graduated from Williams College in 1809, and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1812. He studied medicine and surgery so he could be even more useful in the mission field. In May 1815, he and Sarah Bardwell were married, and he was ordained on June 12. The following October they sailed for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where they quickly established a hospital for the purpose of ministering to the needy and sharing the Gospel. For more interesting information, go to https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/162442329/james-richards.
I couldn't find much on Francis LeBaron Robbins other than he became a noted Presbyterian pastor with a legacy of nearly forty years of ministry following his graduation from Williams College. Harvey Loomis was one of three of the five who never left the United States for other lands, but had an illustrious and fruitful, but fairly brief, life as a pastor in Bangor, ME. Loved and respected throughout the area, his voice was extended as a regular writer for the local newspaper. Sadly, his life ended at age 39 when he died in the pulpit from severe physical exertion climbing up the hill to the church during a heavy snowstorm.
Finally, we have Byram Green, the last of the original five prayer warriors. Following his college years, he became a professor at Beaufort College in South Carolina, and then was admitted to the bar as an attorney. Later he became a New York state legislator from 1816 to 1824 in first the Assembly and then the Senate. Then, in 1842, he was elected United States Representative from New York and served one term from 1843 to 1845. Finally, Green was instrumental in having a monument created to honor that meeting and movement that had begun in 1808. It was placed at Mission Park at Williams College and remains today.
The genealogy doesn't end with the Haystack Prayer Meeting, but continues on. As the missions movement grew, missionaries established schools, churches, hospitals, translated the Bible into indigenous languages, and even created written languages for tribes that had no written language. The first missionary who was actually sent out by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was none other than Adoniram Judson. He was only sixteen years old when he enrolled at a college founded in 1764 by Baptist ministers -- the College of Rhode Island & Providence Plantations, later to become Brown University.
In the article I read in The American Minute, the author William Federer described what certainly must have been the turning point in Judson's life, describing it like this: . . .
"While there, he became friends with a skeptic and deist student named Jacob Eames. Eames was a fan of the godless French philosophies which emerged after the French Revolution and swept America's college campuses, capturing the naive minds of impressionable students. Eames convinced Judson to abandon his parent's Christian faith and become a skeptic.
"In 1804, after graduating valedictorian of his class at age 19, Judson opened a small school and wrote grammar and math textbooks. While traveling to New York City in 1808, Judson stayed at a little inn. He was annoyed and not able to get any sleep because the groans of a dying man in a neighboring room kept him awake all night.
"Nevertheless, Judson ignored the cries, as his heart had become hardened by his skeptical college friend, Jacob Eames. The next morning, when checking out, Judson inquired of the innkeeper who the man was who had died in the night. He was petrified when he heard it was none other than Jacob Eames, his college friend.
"This rude awakening led Adoniram Judson to reaffirm his Christian faith. He would go on to become one of America's first foreign missionaries and the first significant missionary to Burma - modern day Myanmar."
Judson married Ann Hasseltine and together they sailed as missionaries to India. Accompanying them was a man named Luther Rice. Together they met William Carey. After a period of time the Judson's went to Burma, and Rice eventually returned to the United State due to poor health. He helped start numerous Baptist colleges and universities including George Washington University in Washington, DC, in 1821. Rice was a strong voice for world missions and became the driving force that helped create the Southern Baptist Convention which then established its own missionary movement, now called the International Mission Board.
FINALLY -- THE POINT OF THE NEEDLE:
So, why have I come so dangerously close to belaboring the point? It's because these awakenings, the births of these missionary movements, and the establishment of numerous colleges, universities, and seminaries almost always began at a "haystack" -- often in the middle of a storm -- where someone found "the needle". In the Haystack Prayer Meeting, the needle was prayer, it it was from that one afternoon with rain coming down that the modern missionary movement was born.
We find ourselves in a similar situation as a nation today, but in a far worse moral and spiritual condition. Will there be someone who will cry out to God with a handful of other people for the lost souls of our nation and our world? I don't know. There is a lot I don't know.
The thief has continued his pursuit of killing, destroying, and stealing; but Jesus also continues His plan of offering life in abundance to all who will receive Him (Jn 10:10). The unknown quantity in the equation is us -- you and me -- God's people across the land.
David Brainerd would have never gone to the American Indians if he had not met with God in prayer. Brainerd would likely have never met Jonathan Edwards if it had not been for prayer. Edwards would certainly have never written the book on Brainerd's life if Brainerd's life had been merely ordinary. Then what about William Carey? If there had been no prayer, who would Carey have become? If five young men had not met to pray and talk about missions, who would have fled to that haystack? Would the haystack even be significant in anyone's story?
If there had been no haystack experience, the "needle" of prayer would likely not been implemented. And if there had been no prayer, what is the likelihood that people like Adoniram Judson, Luther Rice, and others would have answered the call? As David Brainerd stated, . . .
"We are a long time in learning that all our strength and salvation is in God."
If God can use prayer as the propulsion to preach, can He use it to bring conviction of sin? If He can call out a global modern missions movement through prayer, can he change the heart of a president and of Congress? If He can rain down fire on Elijah's sacrifice, can He rain down fire on His Church? If He can stir the heart of a Jeremiah, can He stir yours? Or mine?
So, I propose to you that there is a desperate need for someone to flee the storm to the haystack -- and there begin to implement the needle. Nothing else will mend the rips and tears in the fabric of our culture today.
Wanna go?
In His Bond, By His Grace, and for His Kingdom,
Bob Tolliver -- Romans 1:11
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"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness,
examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." -- Dr. Luke (Acts 17:11)
"A fire kept burning on the hearthstone of my heart, and I took up the burden of the day with fresh courage and hope." -- Charles F. McKoy
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Copyright February, 2023
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