Unfiltered

This morning I heard a sermon that included the story of Dunkirk again and how about half a million British troops found themselves pinned down there back in 1940.

Hitler's army was on the move and the Brits had been driven to the sea. Someone called for a day of prayer, on May 26, 1940. For some strange reason, about that time Hitler's army stalled. They didn't move in for the kill.

If you remember WWII history, you know that the people of Europe pulled off one of the most amazing evacuations in history. Utilizing every available vessel, they crossed the channel and picked up troops until all were delivered.

That's an amazing story.

As I was listening, it dawned on me, that throughout the Bible we have stories of God intervening miraculously to turn battles to the favor of His people. For Moses, he washed out the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea. He finished off another army with hailstones on behalf on Joshua.

There are stories of troops turning on their comrades, being frightened by mysterious sounds or events, and in one case an angel just slew (I like that O.T. word!) 185,000 warriors in one night.

Today, and even throughout a great deal of our nation's history, we don't hear a lot of that.

Is God no longer working?

I think instead, that it is only in the Bible that we truly get unfiltered history. That's the only place we get the real story.

The Revolutionary War came on the heels of - and probably as a result of - the Great Awakening in the United States. There are numerous stories of miraculous intervention that can only be explained in the light of the fact that Sovereign God was watching over His people. I remember one story of how the British troops had the Continental army in a bad spot and they hesitated. As they waited, a fog moved in and stayed long enough for Washington to evacuate his troops.

I bet there are numerous stories today from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. . . for some reason we are not hearing them.

I know that God is at work in the world. He is available and willing to move in miraculous ways on desperate situations - even when the enemy is pressing in and the sea is lapping at our heels.

After we heard that sermon, R. mentioned to me that she thought our nation was in one of those "Dunkirk" moments.

I guess it would be expecting too much for some person in a place of high authority to suggest that we have a Day of Prayer for our nation. I am hearing prayer strongly urged from a number of directions - blogs, emails, pulpits, passing conversations... "we need to pray" they say.

Let's do.

And then let's trust in the fact that though we may not get the complete, unfiltered story of God's intervention any time soon, we can trust in the fact that He will hear and He will move on behalf of prayers uttered by His people.