I’ve been reading people’s diaries lately. I thought only girls kept diaries. Silly me. I’ve come to find out keeping a diary was a common practice in the nineteen century and those most diligent about it were men!
Andrew Bonar (1810-1892) was a Scottish preacher who kept a personal diary. He never intended to publish it. His daughter Marjory edited it for publication in 1893 after his death. I admire his candor in writing. “I am not, and never was, a great and popular preacher,” he wrote, yet let the record show he led a church that did great work in Scotland. An entry from his diary intrigues me, “A man came to ask me to go with him to settle a dispute between him and his wife. The Lord does not use me, like his servant, Dr. Chalmers, for great things, but my way of serving the Lord is walking three to four miles to quiet a family dispute. The Lord shows me that He wishes me to be one of the common Levites to carry the pins.” For the record, Dr. Chalmers was a preacher widely regarded in Andrew’s day as “a great and popular preacher.”
I wasn’t sure what Andrew meant about carrying the pins until I read his sermon, “Pins in the Tabernacle.” As God’s people traveled in the wilderness forty years in search of the Promised Land, they carried a portable tabernacle with them. One division of the Levites, carried the tent poles, ropes, and pins. Somebody had to carry the pins! Otherwise, the tabernacle would blow away in a sandstorm. Andrew said in his sermon, “He that serves most is greatest in the kingdom. He who carries the pins may get the greatest reward.” Andrew traveled a long distance to settle a family dispute. Jesus said, “The greatest among you must be your servant.”
Two brief prayers from Bonar’s diary follow here: