There is no divination against Jacob,
no evil omens against Israel.
It will now be said of Jacob
and of Israel, ‘See what God has done!’
- Numbers 23:23
“Jedidiah [Morse] and his wife, Sarah, raised their firstborn to follow Christ. ‘Rise early in the morning,’ Jedidiah told him, ‘read a chapter in the Bible and say your prayers After a serious performance of these religious
“Along the way, he fell in love with Lucretia Walker, whom he led to Christ. ‘I feel the dawning of religious joy in my soul,’ she wrote him, ‘and that my only hope of acceptance is through the merits of my Redeemer…. Your letters, dearest love, first awakened my attention.’
“The pinnacle of Samuel’s professional life approached in 1837, when he applied for the appointment to fill the vast panels of the Rotunda of the United States Capitol with historical panoramas. Everything in his life had prepared him for this moment, and he seemed the perfect candidate. But Congress chose another artist, and Samuel was so devastated that he lost all interest in painting.
“He turned his attention to his other preoccupation-electricity and the transmission of electrical signals, which developed into an obsession. He spent years stringing wires hither and yon, creating a mechanism and a code for long-distance communication.
“On May 24, 1844, Samuel unveiled his invention before a crowd of wide-eyed dignitaries in the chambers of the US Supreme Court, which met in the Capitol. An associate waited on the other end of the line in Baltimore. Samuel tapped out a quotation from Numbers 23:23: ‘What Hath God Wrought,’ The message flew across the wire like lightning, the response came back, and the age of instant long-distance communication was born. Samuel explained his choice of Numbers 23:23 this way: ‘It baptized the American telegraph with the name of its Author’-God. He later said, ‘That sentence was divinely [prescribed], for it is in my thoughts day and night. ‘What hath God wrought!’ It is His work, and He alone carried me thus far through all my trials and enabled me to triumph over the obstacles, physical and moral, which opposed me.’”
- Robert J. Morgan, 100 Bible Verses That Made America
In my recent trip to visit the grandchildren, the oldest of them went with me to Nashville, to sell used books and games. One of the books that I purchased in return was 100 Bible Verses That Made America by Robert J. Morgan. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the birth of the USA, I thought I would do a condensed mini-series on some of these verses, four posts per week for a few weeks – maybe not all 100 verses.
Jedidiah Morse was the Father of American Geography, but he was also a pastor. He brought up his firstborn son in the right way, and Samuel seemed to have no Preacher’s Kid (PK) rebellion.
Jedidiah had become a Christian at Yale during the Second Great Awakening. It was natural that his son Samuel would go to the school. And he left with two interests. He pursued being an artist, but when he was turned down for the painting in the rotunda, he easily switched gears.
I was introduced at a convention, when I was filling in for the person who wrote a paper, that I had been a nuclear physicist (I at least taught the subject), a rocket scientist (set up a training program at a new site with untried methodology – something the NASA rules were too rigid to accomplish), and now for more than a decade, I was a mill hunky. A “Hunky” has Polish origins and is a derogatory word usually, but in the right crowd, a hunky was the guy who did not mind getting dirty to get the job done. And the people at this conference were once the “right crowd.” I needed them on my side in that I had not been given a copy of the paper, just the presentation slides. I went in cold, only having thumbed through the slides twice, but I gave the talk with about two minutes to spare.
So, I understood what a daunting task it is to pivot on a dime, change industries and then Samuel Morse did something I would only dream at doing – make an impact that changed the world when he released his invention to the world – the Telegraph.
When I was in the army, I was amazed when out on maneuvers, the signal guys would be sipping coffee, laughing at each others jokes, and writing down the message coming across in Morse Code all at the same time.
His choice for a first message was “What Hath God Wrought.” This was the KJV. As he said, “God did it.”
It was that one chapter of the Bible and then prayer each morning before he started his day that put Morse’s entire day in focus.
When I was teaching the Video College of Biblical Knowledge (a Sunday school class using a short video that then prompted the class discussion), I had a video of a person telling everyone that starting each day in devotion, reading Scripture, and prayer made the entire day go better.
One lady in class thought that was the worst advice she had ever heard. She thought best at night and did all that before she went to bed.
I suggested both, and that went over like a lead balloon.
But the point was lost. In the morning, you set your heart and mind on glorifying God that day. Your devotion is fresh on your mind, and things fall into place easier because you just had that time with God.
Before bed, all that focus is gone the next day, unless the reason for the Bible reading and prayer is to assist in going to sleep.
Both have their reasons and benefits, but the morning devotion sets the day on the right first step.
It certainly did for Samuel Morse. Inventor of the telegraph.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
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