"I gave in to God" - Bruchko

"I couldn't fight it. God made no demands. He didn't force me. But I found myself irresistibly interested in other countries and in other cultures... I gave in to God."

Bruce Olsen - Bruchko

In the book Bruchko, Bruce Olsen tells his own story of how God called him to preach the Gospel to the Motilone tribe in South America. God brought him from being a 19 year old kid with no support and no idea how to start to representing this tribe in front of the Colombian government and the United Nations! It is an amazing story of following God's direction and seeing His provision in the most difficult times. 

However Bruce did not begin with an immediate desire to be a missionary. He writes in the book that he had a plan to become a linguistics professor and that when he first encountered a missionary his impression was that missionaries were "ridiculous". He already had a dream and he didn't want to go on the mission field. In the above quote Bruce is describing how God changed his heart. This is a perfect example of something that I have written about previously on this blog. One example is:

Finding Your Calling!

In Psalm 37:4 it says:

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

As I mention in the above post, a better translation could possibly be: 

"Make yourself pliable in God's hands and he will place desires in your heart."

In other words, if you put yourself in the hands of God he will literally change what you desire. This is what Bruce Olsen experienced. At first he desired to have a comfortable life as a linguistics professor but as he continued to submit himself to God and to the Spirit, he suddenly found that desire changing. Soon it was no longer God pushing him to go to South America but he was the one wanting to go! 

This is how it should be for all of us. I've heard preachers say to never tell God what you don't want to do because that is then what He will call you to do. This may be true some times but I believe God will make sure that you want to do it before sending you. He will mold your desires. This is comforting to know but also it can be a big help in finding out what we are supposed to be doing if we are unsure. If you are desperate to find the will of God then chances are you have submitted yourself to Him. This means that you can begin to look in your own heart at your own desires for what God wants you to do.