Verse: Genesis 50:20
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Devotional Thoughts:
Most of us know some facts about the first Thanksgiving – how the Indians and Pilgrims came together for a great feast. What’s not commonly known is how God used an ordinary Indian to play a major role in bringing it all about.
Squanto was of the Patuxet tribe that lived in the area that is today Plymouth, Massachusetts. While the date is disputed, it was between 1608-1614 – years before the Pilgrims were to ever arrive – that some trading ships landed in the area. The Patuxets greeted them warmly with the expectation of trading, only for the traders to capture many of them, Squanto included, and take them to Spain to be sold into slavery.
Squanto was in Spain for several years, yet was eventually freed. Somehow, he made his way to London, where he agreed to serve as an interpreter in return for a one-way trip back to the new world. Around 1619, he finally returned to his homeland.
Sadly, things weren’t as he’d left them. While he was in Europe, a disease had come upon the Patuxet village, and his entire tribe had passed away. Had he remained there with his tribe, he almost certainly would’ve died along with them.
As it was, it wasn’t much longer that the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, in the area Squanto was raised and now lived again. The Pilgrims had fled to the new world from religious persecution in England, and hoped to live there guided by Christian principles. You can imagine their surprise when a friendly Indian who grew up there and spoke fluent English walked out to greet them.
The Pilgrims were struggling, and had already weathered a harsh winter. Later, in his journal, Pilgrim Governor William Bradford remarked that Squanto “became a special instrument sent of God for [our] good.” Squanto taught them how to plant crops such as corn and squash, and, in general, showed them how to live in this land that was new to them. Largely because of him, the Pilgrims were able to have a successful fall harvest, and thus the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621. It is believed that Squanto even became a Christian, and stayed with the Pilgrims until he died.
Points to Ponder:
The point I want us to get out of this story is the reality that we often don’t get it. We don’t get God’s grand scheme. We don’t get to see the big picture. We don’t get to see the plan and purpose and then sign up for it. Instead, we’re called to sign up to follow a God who has the plan and purpose.
We’re called to be faithful in following God, even when we don’t know where that will take us. But that’s an essential element of faith, right? Hebrews 11:1 says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
We don’t have the privilege of peering into the future. There’s no way that Squanto knew that his unwanted journey to Europe would directly result in saving the lives of the Pilgrims. However, we do know who oversees the future. We know the One who is taking the positive and even the negative aspects of our lives and using them to accomplish His purposes.
-Where today do you have a lack of trust in God?
-How can you be praying for God to use your life to accomplish His purposes?
-Have you ever told God (and truly meant it) that your life (what you do, where you live, where you serve) is, without reservation, completely in His hands and up to Him?
-Who can you be encouraging today?
