Who was the first one to see the continental United States?
It is at this time of the year that we teach children about the Mayflower, Pilgrims and the Thanksgiving holiday.
For two centuries, Americans have been coming away from that account with the idea that the Pilgrims were the first to land on our shores. But we all know that Indians migrated from the Asian continent across Alaska and into America, possibly as early as the biblical account of Babel. Although Vikings from Greenland and Iceland visited the Atlantic coast around the year 1000, they did not settle. Other Europeans would come and go in the 1500’s. When the Pilgrims arrived in 1607, they found a group of Polish artisans already hard at work.
So who was the first to say, “Land ho!”? There are these inspired words: “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Psalm 90:2 NIV). Before the earth was even formed, God could see the history and topography of the United States in his mind’s eye. Aren’t you thankful we have such a great and eternal God?
Remember: before every discovery, God was there.