Growing up I had many stuffed animals, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Hands down the most prized and cherished (and one that remains in my family’s possession even do this day) was a stuffed Fievel. You know Fievel, he was the small mouse in the 1986 animated film An American Tail. I have fond memories of naptime in kindergarten with my beloved friend Fievel and his long brown tail (which I distinctly forbid my friends to pull on for fear of ripping it).
In the movie, Fievel and his family come to America-the “Land of Opportunity”-because it is supposedly without cats. But for the Puritan Colonial settlers in the 17th century, they came to America because they viewed it as God’s chosen nation. For the Puritans, they felt God had now taken them into a covenant which paralleled his covenant with Israel and they viewed God’s blessings as sure and true if only they would uphold their covenant faithfulness with God.
To some degree, the supposed parallelism was precise: as Israel was held captive in Egypt, so the Puritans were held captive in Englan; as God took Israel across the Red Sea, so he carried the Puritans across the North Atlantic; as the Promised Land was inhabited by people groups in which Israel was to conquer (the Canaanites), so the Puritans were charged with conquering the people groups who inhabited their Promised Land (the Native Americans). The Puritans believed their Colony (the Massachusetts Bay Colony) was God’s new chosen people. This was how the Puritans read their Old Testaments.
I write on this topic because today I was challenged to rethink how this “nationalistic election” has permeated my thoughts and beliefs. This type of intrinsic thinking would be, at least in part, a catalyst for the westward expansion, the American Revolution, “manifest destiny,” and even today, the view the United States is somehow superior due to her heritage and the blessings we all enjoy.
I am humbled to realize that I am simply a man in need of a Savior, just like every other human on the planet. I love my county-and my state-but I am not entitled to anything simply because of my zip code. May God grant us all the grace to remember we are nothing without him.
The information on Puritan Colonialism comes from today’s lecture by my remarkable professor, Dr. D. Jeffrey Bingham.
