Around 1620, separatists from England had arrived in America seeking religious freedom. Landing at New Plymouth, they set up what would become known as the Plymouth Colony. This colony would be crucial in establishment of a nation free to worship God as they saw fit.
But it almost didn’t happen.
On the journey, many of the pilgrims had become ill, and 47% of them had died. They were desperate to find a place ashore on which they could settle. But every attempt found them repelled by the natives. At long last, they came to Plymouth Rock.
Coming ashore they found an established, but empty village (called Patuxet) that had been built by the Native American Wampanoag. The village had been abandoned three years earlier because of a plague (likely smallpox) that had killed every one of its residence. So sweeping and severe was the plague that the colonists discovered unburied skeletons in some of the abandoned dwellings.
But that plague, which had killed so many of the Wampanoag, was crucial for the ultimate success of Plymouth Colony.
Because the local natives were in such a weakened state, the colonists weren’t met with the same opposition that they had faced on earlier landings. In fact, the plague had nearly decimated the Wampanoag, depopulating whole villages. To make matters worse, it hadn’t touched their longtime enemies, the Narragansett alliance to the west, which left the Wampanoag in a precarious situation.
Realizing their vulnerability, Massasoit, Sachem, and leader of the Wampanoag, knew his only hope for survival would be to form an alliance with the Pilgrims. For this purpose, on March 22, 1621 Massasoit, Samoset, and Tisquantum, broke long-standing policy, and came to negotiate with the colonists.
Those negotiations would make way for the survival of the Plymouth Colony (which were nearly decimated themselves, with only 47 survivors at one point), providing them with vital food, and knowledge that was crucial for them to know how to grow crop on this strange new land.
But none of that would have been possible if that plague would not have first swept the area, setting the stage for new colonization. Colonization that would lead to the establishment of a new nation, a nation of religious freedom, where the word of God could be established, and his people could be free to worship.
But to Massasoit and his people, that plague was a catastrophe. Likely there were many who must have questioned their God, doubt-ridden and angry because they could not see the larger plan. But a lager plan there was. A plan known only to an omniscient Father, and made possible by a plague.
Often it is that our lives are swept with such plagues. Plagues of misfortune, plagues of trials, plagues of temptation, plagues of weakness, plagues of loss, plagues of discouragement, plagues of doubt, and sometimes, plagues of disaster.
How tempting it is, for us to question our Father, while we suffer under these plagues… while the reality of our pain is so real.
But could it not be that the suffering we feel now, is preparing the way for a far richer future we can enjoy tomorrow? A tree must be pruned, for it to be healthy. A field must be plowed, before it can be planted. And sometimes, we must be broken, before we can be built up.
God’s vision for us is greater than our own. And the meager, mortal attempts we have made to shape our lives must sometimes be undone, before the true beauty of the vision our Father has for us can be realized.
May you trust in God through your adversity. May you know that He loves you with a depth and intensity that you are incapable of understanding. May you know that His plan for you is sometimes hidden, but that if you will trust in Him, and keep your faith, and endure to the end, you will find yourself in His presence, and you will know that it was all worth it. For He lives, and He loves you, for you are His child.
Rusty
(Ongofu – rustysblog.com)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you, Rusty. I needed this post today.
This is a great message. Thank you!