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Noah Webster: A Man of Words and the WORD · Traveler’s Tales

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  There are some lives that leave fingerprints on history, and then there are lives that
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  shape the very words history remembers.
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  For generations, people have opened a dictionary and seen the name Webster printed across the
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  cover.
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  Scholars used his spelling books.
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  Students learned language through his writings.
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  Nations were influenced by his ideas.
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  Yet behind the scholar, behind the educator, stood a man fully persuaded that the greatest
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  foundation for any life, any family, and any nation is the Word of God.
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  This is Greg Dowdy, and on today's Traveler's Tales, we journey back to the life of a man
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  who spent decades defining words, yet understood that the most important truths in life could
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  never merely be defined.
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  They had to be believed, obeyed, and lived.
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  The Apostle Paul declared in 2 Timothy 1.12,
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  For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
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  committed unto him against that day.
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  Those words became precious to Noah Webster near the end of his life.
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  And when you study his story, you begin to understand why.
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  Noah Webster was born on October 16, 1758 in West Hartford, Connecticut.
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  He lived during a formative season in American history, a time of revolution, uncertainty,
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  and national rebuilding.
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  But Webster believed something that many in his generation were beginning to forget,
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  that freedom without truth cannot survive.
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  Most people remember Webster for his dictionary, but few realize the sacrifice behind it.
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  For nearly four decades, he labored tirelessly to produce an American dictionary of the English
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  language, 38 years of study, 38 years of research, 38 years devoted to words.
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  Why?
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  Because Webster believed language mattered.
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  He believed truth mattered.
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  He believed education mattered.
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  But even deeper than that, he believed the Bible mattered most of all.
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  Before he was known as an educator, he was a student of Scripture.
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  Webster understood that if a generation loses its foundation in God's Word, it will eventually
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  lose its moral compass, its convictions, and ultimately its freedoms.
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  He once wrote,
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  "...the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children
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  under a free government ought to be instructed."
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  Think about that for a moment.
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  In an age when many are trying to remove God from education, culture, public life, Webster
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  believed the exact opposite.
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  He understood that knowledge without God produces pride, but truth grounded in God produces
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  wisdom.
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  And there is a powerful spiritual lesson there for all of us.
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  It is possible to educate the mind while starving the soul.
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  A person may become skilled, successful, informed, accomplished, yet remain empty on the inside
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  because only God can satisfy the deepest needs of the human heart.
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  Webster warned young people against skepticism and unbelief.
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  He wrote that many fall away simply because they never became thoroughly acquainted with
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  Scripture.
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  That observation is still painfully true today.
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  We are living in a generation flooded with information, but starving for truth.
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  People know headlines, trends, statistics, opinions, yet many know very little of the
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  Word of God, and the neglect of Scripture always produces spiritual weakness.
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  Webster also recognized something else that our modern world desperately needs to hear.
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  The root problem of society is sin.
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  Not politics, not economics, not education alone, sin.
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  He boldly declared that the miseries of mankind—crime, injustice, oppression, and war—flow from
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  the neglecting of the precepts of the Bible.
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  What remarkable clarity!
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  Our world spends enormous energy treating symptoms while ignoring the disease.
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  But Webster understood that only Christ can transform the human heart.
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  Laws may restrain behavior for a time, but only the gospel of Jesus Christ can change
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  a soul.
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  And perhaps that is why the words of 2 Timothy 1.12 meant so much to him.
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  Paul did not say, I know what I have believed.
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  He said, I know whom I have believed.
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  Christianity is not simply confidence in principles.
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  It is confidence in a person—the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Noah Webster spent his life studying words, but in the end, his confidence was not in
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  vocabulary, scholarship, or accomplishment.
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  His confidence rested in Christ alone.
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  What a reminder for us.
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  At the end of life, titles will not matter.
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  Achievements will not matter.
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  Possessions will not matter.
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  What will matter is this.
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  Have we committed our lives to the One who is able to keep us?
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  Paul said, I am persuaded that He is able.
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  That is the language of settled confidence.
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  Webster understood that true peace is found only when a heart is surrendered to God.
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  He wrote this, The soul of man is, I am persuaded, never tranquil till the will is subdued and
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  has yielded with implicit submission to God's sovereign grace.
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  How true that is.
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  So many people today are searching for peace while resisting the God who gives peace.
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  They pursue fulfillment through success, pleasure, wealth, relationships, or recognition, only
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  to discover that nothing in this world can quiet the unrest of the human soul.
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  Why?
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  Because we were created for God, and the heart will never rest until it rests in Him.
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  And perhaps the greatest application from Webster's life is this.
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  The most influential lives are built upon eternal truth.
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  Webster influenced schools, government, education, and language because he first anchored his
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  life in Scripture.
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  His public impact flowed from private conviction.
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  And the same is true for us.
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  If we want to impact our families, our churches, our communities, and our generation, it will
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  not happen through personality or talent alone.
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  It will happen when we become people of the book, people who know God, believe His Word,
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  and submit our lives to His truth.
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  The world does not need more educated people.
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  The world needs more godly people.
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  As Noah Webster neared the end of his earthly journey, his hope was not in all he had accomplished.
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  His hope rested in the Savior he had trusted.
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  And today, generations later, his testimony still challenges us.
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  Build your life on the Word of God.
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  Submit your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Commit your future to the One who is able to keep that which you entrust to Him.
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  Because the safest place for your life, your soul, your family, your eternity, is in the
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  hands of Christ.
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  Thank you for enjoying the journey with me today on Traveler's Tales.
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  Our prayer is that these stories of faith from fellow travelers will encourage your own.
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  Traveler's Tales is a production of Enjoying the Journey, a ministry that seeks to preach
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  the gospel, teach the Word of God, and reach this generation for Christ.
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  Visit us at etj.bible where you can find a vast array of free resources that will help
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  you follow God's Word and find Christ's joy.