As a young boy, I dabbled for a few years in Scouting activities in the western Oklahoma town where I grew up. I remember, from one of my early years in the program, that my fellow Scouts and I had to dress up in do-it-yourself costumes of George Washington and re-enact scenes from his life during our troop meeting. Most memorable to me was when we crossed the Delaware River. I fear we didn’t do justice to the magnitude of that moment—250 years ago this coming December. It was a momentous event in Washington’s life and in the life of our nation.
In fact, by late 1776, Washington’s troops were woebegone and weary—defeated, hungry, and exposed to the elements of a harsh winter. Earlier that fall, the British had driven them out of New York, after which some 11,000 volunteer soldiers laid down their arms and went home. Washington knew his remaining troops could very well do the same once their contracts lapsed on Dec. 31, 1776.
Then, in the overnight hours of Dec. 25-26, amid a winter storm, Washington snuck more than 2,000 troops, along with artillery and horses, across the Delaware River. Through this daring military maneuver, he turned impending defeat into meaningful victory at battles in both Trenton and Princeton.
Like Washington, many leading patriots who defended the independence of the American colonies during the revolution often survived and snatched victories for the new nation through such feats of derring-do. Without this, according to historian David McCullough, the colonies may never have claimed or won their independence. In fact, apart from this, many things that have gone down in the annals of U.S. history—to say nothing of human history—may “never have happened.”
“There is so much around us,” McCullough wrote, “that might never have happened were it not for a host of qualities called imagination, commitment, courage, creativity, and determination in the face of obstacles—that maybe most of all.”
Writing of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, historian Matthew Spalding similarly wrote, “The signers all risked their lives, and many gave up their fortunes to support the Declaration. … They were iron men.”
There’s something that Christians today can learn from such courage and iron resolve. And it’s a lesson exemplified by others in the Revolutionary age—and not only among the American Patriots.
Roughly a decade after the Founders signed the Declaration of Independence, William Wilberforce experienced an evangelical conversion and, soon afterwards, discovered the “two great objects” God had set before him: “the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.”
Os Guinness, in his classic book, The Call, writes, “Wilberforce’s momentous accomplishments were achieved in the face of immense odds. … Constantly vilified, [he] was twice even waylaid and physically assaulted.”
Nevertheless, for decades, he held true to God’s call with grit and enthusiasm, ultimately ending the British slave trade. Interestingly, Guinness notes, “An Italian diplomat who saw Wilberforce in Parliament in his later years recorded that ‘everyone contemplates this little old man … as the Washington of humanity.’”
Again, only a decade or so after the Revolution began, British Baptist pastor William Carey expressed similar resolve and vision, but this time for global missions. In 1786, fellow Baptist ministers criticized his desire to make disciples of all nations.
“Young man, sit down, sit down!”, one minister told him publicly at an associational meeting. “You are an enthusiast. When God pleases to convert the heathen, he’ll do it without consulting you or me.”
Carey maintained such enthusiasm nevertheless, urging his congregation in 1791 to “expect great things” from God and “attempt great things” for God. His resolve was not only in words, but also in deeds—spending his life overseas.
“William Carey’s most impressive achievement, though, is his single-minded perseverance,” Mark Galli writes in Christian History magazine. He continues:
“In England, when the vision of world evangelism was still vague and the social obstacles immense, Carey plodded relentlessly toward the vision.
“During those first six agonizing, bitter years [in India], Carey produced not a single convert. But … [he] never gave up.
As he said, ‘I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.’”
Like Washington, Wilberforce and Carey, we would do well to plod and persevere in following God’s call, with enthusiasm and courage. As Scripture says, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord” (Rom 12:11 NIV). “And let us not grow weary while doing good.” (Gal 6:9 NKJV).