– .– …. .- – / …. .- – …. / –. — -.. / .– .-. — ..- –. …. – ..–..
That makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Let me say it differently. di-dah-dah di-di-di-dit di-dah dah/di-di-di-dit di-dah dah di-di-di-dit/dah-dah-dit dah-dah-dah dah-di-dit/di-dah-dah di-dah-dit dah-dah-dah di-di-dah dah-dah-dit di-di-di-dit dah dit-dit-dah-dah-dit-dit
And we thought text speak was hard!
I can think of only one person in our church that probably would have understood exactly what this says, and he is home with the Lord. The message is in Morse code, developed by Samuel Morse, and demonstrated to Congress on this day in 1844. The message was transmitted from the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill to Alfred Vail at a railroad station in Baltimore, Maryland. What did this message say?
What hath God wrought?
The spiritual nature of the message shouldn’t come as a surprise. His father was a pastor and young Samuel grew up learning the Bible and was a devout Christian. “Morse supported education and Sunday School, making the prophetic comment, “Education without religion is in danger of substituting wild theories for the simple commonsense rules of Christianity.” He saw a perfect harmony between the Word of God, the beauty of the landscapes he painted, and the scientific endeavors he undertook. After a long and successful career, Morse said, “The nearer I approach the end of my pilgrimage, the clearer is the evidence of the divine origin of the Bible, the grandeur and sublimity of God’s remedy for fallen man are more appreciated, and the future is illumined with hope and joy.””1
So, where did Morse come up with this message? Why did he choose these words for the demonstration?
“And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me,
thou son of Zippor: (19) God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (20) Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. (21) He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. (22) God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. (23) Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!” (Numbers 23:18-23)
This message was used as a rebuke against Balak. He needed to learn about the Divine nature of God and that God keeps His word. Balak was reminded that Israel is God’s people and God has worked wonderful and miraculous events in their lives to provide for them.
Morse believed that the telegraph and Morse code was a blessing given from God to help connect a country and make communication more expedient. The use of this Scripture was intended to give God the glory for something Morse had worked on for a dozen years.
How easy would it have been for Morse to have taken the glory and accepted the praise for his work? Instead, he did what we all must do. He returned the glory to God.
What hath God wrought in your life? What praise does He deserve from our hearts and lips today? Tell it. Sing it. Text it. Phone it. Telegraph it if you’d like!
1https://crev.info/scientists/samuel-f-b-morse/
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