What if I told you of a famous painter who faced the terrible news of his wife’s death and changed his profession, literally overnight to become an inventor? It’s a true story and one that needs to be told to our children today. It was his invention that changed a country and the way it communicated, and once his invention was introduced, it changed the world. The man I speak of is Samuel F.B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph and the Morse code.
Morse was a strong Christian that believed in the teachings of what some call Calvinism. In no small part these teaching affected his life and his work. He believed that God was the creator and instilled creation in him. He was a young man when his work as an artist was being recognized. After studying painting he successfully painted presidents John Adams and James Monroe. Later on, he was commissioned to paint the American Revolutionary hero Marquis de Lafayette. It was while he was painting Lafayette that he received word via the slow moving postal service that his wife was gravely ill. Hearing this news Samuel hurried to her side, but she died and was buried before he could arrive.
This event left Samuel grief stricken and it was during his recovery that he determined that no one should suffer as he had with late news. From that point of decision, he dedicated himself to finding a way to improve lines of communication. It took many years and much hard work, discovery, experimentation and even court battles before he could rightfully put his telegraph in use. Others tried to cheat him out of his work and lay claims that they had invented the telegraph, not Samuel. Finally, after many years he was not only recognized as the inventor, he was commissioned to lay the lines telegraph lines, train the operators with his Morse Code and finally send the first message on January 6, 1838. The message was from Numbers 23:23, What hath God Wrought.
There is much more to the story and I would encourage all to read for themselves the truth. I would also like to take a moment to remind all that out of desperation can come something more. I know we live in a time when people find trouble so easily. People seemed to find it easier to leave this life than find solution. We are taught that unless we die wealthy, we are losers. Well, Samuel F.B. Morse lived without. He was driven and he had a goal. The goal wasn’t prosperity. It was to give God the glory. Satan wants us to think God doesn’t care. Samuel didn’t think that way. He trusted that his wife was with God. His motivation was that no one should ever have to died alone like his wife did.
You and I have been given remarkable talents to use for God. I guess the question is, “Will we?” What hath God wrought in you?
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