Christopher Columbus believed himself to be a man chosen for a divine mission. On August 3, 1492, under the patronage of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, Columbus set sail with a small fleet of ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Nina. His journeys took him to parts of Central America that would later become known as the Americas.
In a letter to the king and queen of Spain, Columbus expressed his reasons for sailing westward . . . "The Holy Trinity moved Your Highnesses to this enterprise of the Indies, and of his infinite he made me the messenger thereof . . . On this matter I spent six or seven years of deep anxiety, expounding . . . how great service might in this be rendered to the Lord . . . And I told you of the peoples whom I have seen, among whom and from whom many souls may be saved."
The following quotation from the Introduction to Christopher Columbus' Book of Prophecies summarizes not only his deep commitment to the gospel mandate, but also points to the Bible as the very source of his inspiration: "It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel his hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies . . . " There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit . . . Our Lord Jesus Christ desired to perform a very obvious miracle in the voyage to the Indies, to confront me and the whole people of God."
His Journal from August 3 to October 12, 1492 is a daily record of the historic voyage from Spain to the New Indies. Day after day, he refers to Jesus and the need for divine help. He is always asking our Lord for the light and strength he needs to realize what God had entrusted him to do.
“All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me . . . No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service. The working out of all things has been assigned to each person by our Lord, but it all happens according to His sovereign will even though He gives advice.”
The lesson: Discover what God wants you to do and then be relentless in its pursuit. The Lord will provide for you and you will take that step of faith to voyage out into all He has for you. You will discover a new world of blessings!
(Neh 7:5) Then my God put it into my heart to gather the nobles . . .
(Neh 2:8) . . . And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.
(Gen 24:27) . . . As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me . . .
Louie