Secrets. They can be very valuable.
Will the CREATOR show you secrets which can add tremendous value to others and benefit yourself too?
Pretty audacious to think about!
George Washington Carver was bold enough to ask for secrets from the Creator. And his life and work revolutionized the Southern economy when America needed it the most.
But what about now? Can we experience the art of what’s extraordinarily possible today?
George Washington Carver — From the son of a slave to a great American scientist
The son of a slave, George Washington Carver was born in 1864 near the end of the Civil War. He was orphaned as a baby. When slavery was abolished the following year, his “owners,” Moses and Susan Carver, raised George and his brother as their own.
He was taught to read and write, and later attended various schools and colleges, eventually earning a Master’s degree from Iowa State University.
“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour if we will only tune in.”
Carver served on the faculty at Tuskegee University, teaching sustainable farming. His students’ character development was as significant to him as their intellectual achievement.
He became a world-class expert in botany and agriculture.
- World leaders Mahatma Gandhi and Joseph Stalin sought his advice.
- “Together, we can remake the world,” Thomas Edison told Carver, offering him $100,000 per year (astounding for the time) and state of the art facilities.
- Henry Ford offered him enormous resources to do research for his company.
Passionate about helping his fellowman and the nation, Carver preferred to work in his laboratory: “God’s little workshop.”
What would be revealed to us if we really asked with desire and humility? What discoveries and opportunities are possible?
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“Show me secrets”
He would begin each day with prayer that God would reveal secrets to him about plants and vegetables. It is reported that once Carver prayed, “Mr. Creator, show me the secrets of your universe.”
“Little man, you’re not big enough to know the secrets of My universe, but I’ll show you the secret of the peanut,” was the reply.
His prayer and heaven’s response launched him into a lifetime of discovery.
In 1941, Time magazine called Carver a “Black Leonardo,” a reference to the Italian Renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci.
Giving himself to the lowly peanut, he identified several hundred elements in its seed and shell.
As he put the elements together again in different forms, he uncovered over 300 uses for the peanut including various kinds of foods, oil, paint, ink, soap, shampoo, facial cream, plastics, and many other products.
But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets … (Daniel 2:28)
Later Carver lifted the sweet potato saying, “Show me it’s secrets.” Again, fresh discoveries and opportunities flowed through his work – over 115 products were developed from the sweet potato including flour, starch, and synthetic rubber.
Amazing.
He would also draw out the latent potential of the soybean and the pecan.
He believed in the holistic integration of faith in God and science. Though highly educated, his testimony on many occasions, including before a Congressional committee, was that his faith in Jesus Christ was the only way in which he could effectively pursue the art of science.
Through his research and teaching on soil improvement and crop diversification, and by developing uses for alternative crops to cotton, George Washington Carver revolutionized Southern agriculture and industry. He was key in transforming the southern economy.
The art of the possible
What would be revealed to us if we really asked with humility and then followed through with the hard work of learning and discovery? What information do you need? What discoveries and opportunities are possible?
“Keep asking and it will be given to you. Keep seeking and you will find. Keep knocking and the door will be opened to you” (Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount).
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God and it will be given to him (James 1:5).
Call unto Me and I will show you great and mighty things (fenced off, inaccessible, hidden) which you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3).
Explore the teaching and modeling of Jesus at JesusSmart.com
Bring it into your world …
Reflect on areas of life and work where you could use the Creator’s secrets:
- Personal growth and development
- Marriage and family
- Health and wellness
- Work and business
- Community involvement
- Friends and relationships
- Cultural influence
What are the top 3 areas in which you would like the Creator to reveal secrets to you? Get audacious like George Washington Carver! Begin to build a sustained lifestyle of drawing upon the wisdom of God …
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photo credit: peanut plants (Yun Huang Yong, Creative Commons)
George Washington Carver’s story is amazing, incredible, even perhaps miraculous. You have quite the art-form gift of tying together a few significant pieces of a remarkable life lived to make us, the readers, hungry and stretching out and reaching for more of what you are serving up—hope, inspiration, a future, encouragement, permission to be audacious…to dream BIG and to ASK big. Thank you very much.
Thanks for the kind words, Barbara. GWC is quite the model… the more I learn about him, the more appreciation I have. By opening up to revelation, he lived in more of the full spectrum of wisdom and information that is available.
Great story! As a graduate of the famed Tuskegee Institute I appreciate the miraculous works of Dr. Carver. I was fortunate enough to learn about him as a child and became enthralled by his wisdom and humility. It was later when I picked one of the biographies about this great man that I learned of his strong faith and intimate relationship with God. Like you it amazed me that he simply asked and God granted. It moved me to humble myself and look for God in nature and in simple things. Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver were both great men of faith and the anointing upon their lives to do what they did for poor, uneducated disenfranchised people is still available to all who acknowledge it. Applause to you for revealing that God was at work in Dr Carver’s life, I rarely if ever seem evangelical or mainstream Christianity mention him when they talk about powerful men of faith, kudos to you!! Please take the time to visit his lab on the campus of Tuskegee University if you haven’t done so.God bless
Gwen, appreciate your comment and insights! It’s wonderful to hear of your story and the impact that Dr. Carver has on your life. With you, I’m amazed at the revelation he received, and the influence and testimony he had in his life. I would love to visit his lab! And I would love for more to hear of his life. We need his life message!
Thanks for the word, George Washington carvers story is any eye opening story, amazing ,miraculous, it’s a remarkable life lived to revelations and discovery of who we are and what we are able to do if we ask, from our Heaven FATHER, it is inspiration ,encouragement permission to ask what whatever we what or need, without searching out side GOD will for us.
Thanks, Raymond … GWC certainly raises the standard for us, inspiring us to reach for more. I love the life he lived. Truly, his life and work encourages us to ask for more … and to do more.
Great article and what a great testimony and life , i just learned about him today. thanks for posting! 🙂
Thanks, Carmen. It’s very good for us to get out of the current state of things we seem to be swimming in and go back in time, discovering noble personalities. Challenging.
Thanks for giving me this opportunity to comment on Doctor George Washington Carter’s life of achievement’s, from children crayon, to face cream. I am inspired to seek God more about my life, to do something for others to make life a better place.
I love this story! God is real.