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This Week’s Devotional Topic
COLUMBUS DAY
Columbus Day is a holiday in the United States that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492, in the New World. For many, the holiday is a way of both honoring Columbus’ achievements and celebrating Italian-American heritage.
According to History.com and other resources, the first Columbus Day celebration took place in 1792, when New York’s Columbian Order—better known as Tammany Hall—held an event to commemorate the historic landing’s 300th anniversary. Taking pride in Columbus’ birthplace and faith, Italian and Catholic communities in various parts of the country began organizing annual religious ceremonies and parades in his honor.
Columbus’ mission was to chart a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. Instead, on October 12, 1492, he landed in the Bahamas, becoming the first European to explore the Americas since the Vikings established colonies in Greenland and Newfoundland during the 10th century. And it wasn’t until his third journey that Columbus finally realized he hadn’t reached Asia but instead had stumbled upon a continent previously unknown to Europeans.
Can you imagine time, money and effort that went into the planning these voyages, then the blood, sweat and tears that the trips required as Columbus was hoping and counting on completing his mission? And think about how he would deal with mixed emotions when he realized after two previous journeys that he did not reach what he wanted but on the other hand had discovered a new world.
We all have times when we hope and pray for a certain result, then see God’s hand redirect our circumstances. It reminds me of so many answers to my prayers, hopes and dreams. Here’s just one of several examples God has given me over the years. At a point when my wife and I had 4 children, it was in the early ‘80s and I had been laid off from my position as Sales Manager of a distributor of Christian Music. God answered my prayers with what I expected to be an absolutely perfect fit. Our family moved 2300 miles to accept a position as Sales Representative with one of the largest Christian Music companies. It was a great territory and fantastic ministry. About two years later, God made it very clear that we were to leave that behind and move back to the West coast. And here we are 36 years later. God definitely had better plans for us than we could ever have dreamed.
A phrase that comes to my mind is from a television series from many years ago titled “Father Knows Best”. Indeed, our heavenly Father does know best.
Here are just a few passages that make it abundantly clear how that we can trust God with His plans for our lives.
Psalms 37:23,24 The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.
Proverbs 3:5,6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths
Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
When it looks like things are not going to turn out the way you had hoped, the way that you expected, have faith and then remember Columbus. He would have been very happy to have found a short cut to Asia but instead discovered an entire continent and earned a place in history and his own national holiday.
Praise and thank God almighty that there are times when He doesn’t give us what we wanted, He gives us what we need, and what is His best for us.
This week’s Scripture:
Psalms 37:23,24; Proverbs 3:5,6 and Matthew 7:7-11
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