A few years before his death in 2022, Andrew van der Bijl (also known as Brother Andrew) looked back on his extraordinary missionary life. He reflected on the many dangers of smuggling Bibles into countries where Christianity was illegal. Then, with breath-taking humility, he said, “I am just an ordinary guy. What I did, anyone can do.”
We may not instinctively feel like we could do the daring things that Brother Andrew did. Yet his assessment of himself matches the psalmist’s: “No deed can compare with yours. . . . For you are great and do marvellous deeds; you alone are God” (Psalm 86:10). Brother Andrew was not the source of his marvellous deeds; God was.
If the most marvellous deeds come from the Lord, then all of us can be channels of His love and wisdom—even if we don’t feel like we have much to offer. And we don’t need to go overseas or into danger to experience this. The psalmist continues, “Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart” (v. 11). Our role is wholeheartedly to draw close to the Source of all marvellous deeds, allowing Him to lead and work through us.
It is okay to feel ordinary, just like Brother Andrew did. We don’t have to muster up our own strength to do marvellous deeds; God will work through us as we draw near and learn to rely on His faithfulness.
By Chris Wale
REFLECT & PRAY
How do the examples of Brother Andrew and other Christians to whom you look up inspire you? How can you seek to become more of a channel for God’s marvellous deeds?
Dear God, I praise You for Your marvellous deeds throughout the world. Please help me to live by Your strength and faithfulness, so that You may work mightily through me as well.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
King David is credited with composing seventy-three to seventy-four of the psalms, and Psalm 86 is one of them. Unlike some of David’s songs (see, for example, the superscription of Psalm 51), Psalm 86 contains no comments about the circumstances that prompted its writing, and it appears to contain numerous phrases that appear in other Davidic psalms. However, the key feature of Psalm 86, as observed in The New Bible Commentary, may be that the name Lord appears seven times ( vv. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 15) using the Hebrew term Adonai, which speaks of God’s sovereignty. As David offers worship and adoration to God, he also presents his needs and concerns to Him—knowing that he’s appealing to the God who not only deserves all his worship and praise, but that He’s the One who can be trusted with all possible outcomes.
Bill Crowder
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