Focus: Dream And Dare!

Text: Gen.11:6

"And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do."

Success in any venture requires that you desire or dream, decide, determine, and dare to succeed. I firmly believe that determination is the language of success. Perseverance and persistence are essential to any success story. Whatever you want to do, if you set your mind to it, you'll surely get it done. No demon can stop a man who is bent on succeeding in his life.

Let me tell you the story of Robert Dick Wilson. Wilson was born in 1856 in Pennsylvania. In 1886 he had already bagged the Doctor's degree, and continued his training at Western Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, followed by two years in Germany at the University of Berlin. While in Germany he made a decision to dedicate and devote his life to the study of the Old Testament. He was 25 years old then. He gave himself 45 years to accomplish that goal, and divided the 45 into three parts: 15 years to study the languages necessary, another 15 years to study the text of the Old Testament, and then he reserved the last 15 years to the work of writing the results of his previous studies and investigations, so as to give them to the world.

You know what? He got it done in 46 years. He mastered forty-five languages and dialects. His scholastic accomplishments were truly amazing. While in the Seminary he would read the New Testament in nine different languages, including a Hebrew translation which he had memorized syllable for syllable. He also memorized large portions of the Old Testament in the original Hebrew. Is it not quite incredible that a man would learn 45 languages in his quest for knowledge?

Dr. John Walvoord, one time President of Dallas Theological Seminary said Prof. Wilson was, "probably the outstanding authority on ancient languages in the Middle East."

Concerning his motivation for such a monumental task, he said, "Most of our students used to go to Germany, and they heard professors give lectures which were the results of their own labors. The students took everything because the professor said it." He continues, "I went there to study so that there would be no professor on earth that could lay down the law for me, or say anything without my being able to investigate the evidence on which he said it." And then he said, "Now I consider that what was necessary in order to investigate the evidence was, first of all, to know the languages in which the evidence is given. So I determined that I would learn all the languages that throw light upon the Hebrew, and also the languages into which the Bible had been translated down to 600 A.D., so that I could investigate the text myself." Finally, he said, "Having done this I claim to be an expert. I defy any man to make an attack upon the Old Testament on the ground of evidence that I cannot investigate. I can get at the facts if they are liguistic. If you know any language that I do not know, I will learn it."

Robert Dick Wilson dreamed, decided, determined, and dared to succeed in his chosen endeavor, and he finally made it. He could not be stopped. He became an authority on the Old Testament languages.

Nothing could stop Nimrod and his men from achieving their goal of building a city and a tower except God Himself. I believe with God on your side that you can succeed in anything you have set out to do, especially if it is for God's glory and the good of others. You can beat the odds and rise above the obstacles. Dream and dare!

Bishop Moses E. Peter