Ensign: We Do Not

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.            Isaiah 18:3

 

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS                                                    3 June 2016

 

Seventy-two years ago this coming Monday, the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War began.  Starting out with what citizens of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and others know as D-Day, nearly three million troops were landed in western Europe and, from the largest amphibious military operation in human history, began what we learned in school as the liberation of a continent from the Nazi tyranny.  It may seem now that victory was a foregone conclusion, but the event which began with establishing themselves at Normandy was just the beginning.  Germany under the Third Reich didn't fall for another eleven months, and the Second World War didn't formally end until Japan surrendered three months after that. 

 

War colleges and military academies have done study after study of everything in place at Normandy and looked at the possibilities if someone or something had not been in place where it was.  The conclusion is most often that Normandy could have gone either way.  That it did go the way of the Second World War Allies and not the Axis was due to a great many things.  Yes, there was the possibility of failure: supreme commander Dwight Eisenhower had even prepared a letter to be delivered to the families of the three million if D-day had failed.

 

There is nothing wrong with failure; it's in the preparing to fail that we in modern life so often trip ourselves up.  Even Jesus when He was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane asked God His Father if it was possible to let this cup -- that He'd have to die for the sins of all the people of the world -- pass from Him, please take it away.  As human beings, we don't like to suffer, we don't like the idea of dying.  Oh, we SAY it's easy to die for our spouse, our family, our faith, or our country, and by no means am I demeaning sincere martyrdom, but when it's down to the wire, we often don't take the step we need to.  We become paralyzed by fear; I am so thankful, and so should you all be, that Jesus did not.  That Eisenhower and the soldiers under his command did not.  Our children are -- even if they don't come out and say it -- that we do not.

 

I will not,

 

David

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch, and I hope it's encouraging too! If it's not or you'd like me to get lost, please let me know. Thank you!

Thank You, Lord, that we can come to you in prayer and that we can count on You to provide for our needs, even when we're not clear what they are. And let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of that fence and all over the world.

Thank You as well, Lord, for everyone in leadership and service, both here and abroad. Thank You also for the opportunities we have and the promise of new life through You by Your Son Our Brother, Jesus Christ.

And I pray that we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.