Psalm 91:
1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
In the Spring of 1940, over 300,000 British troops were trapped on the beaches and in the harbor of Dunkirk France . The German Army was less than 12 miles away and the British and French troops were backed up against the English Channel with nowhere to go. On May 26, 1940 , the King of England called the entire nation to pray fervently for the trapped soldiers.
Winston Churchill told the British public that they would only be able to rescue less than one-tenth of those soldiers. The Nazis had sunk so many British ships in the harbor, destroyers and large military vessels could not get into the harbor and the beaches were so shallow that large ships could not get even close to swimming distance from the beaches. Hitler’s army was advancing rapidly and all seemed hopeless.
And the nation prayed.
Then, a funny thing happened. One of Hitler’s generals ordered the advancing army to halt. The plan was to send in the Luftwaffe to shoot the soldiers from the air. Hitler validated the order. Then, another funny thing happened. A dense fog rolled in, grounding most of the Luftwaffe’s planes. At the same time, yet another funny thing happened: the 21 miles of open water separating England from France suddenly went a flat and calm as a small pond.
Every boat that would float was sent from England to Dunkirk to rescue those soldiers. Over 700 fishing boats, pleasure craft, and merchant marine craft participated.
In the end, 338,226 British and French soldiers were rescued form Dunkirk over a period of nine days.
Yes, there were periods when the Luftwaffe was able to bomb and strafe the beaches. The soldiers there didn’t just pray Psalm 91—they shouted it at the top of their lungs. A chaplain was among them and told how he laid on the open beach for what seemed like forever as bullets and shrapnel rained down all around him. Stunned and dazed by the deafening roar of the concussions around him, he stood up in amazement to find –not a scratch on him and the perfect outline of his body in the sand. It was, to quote Psalm 91 God’s Shield of Protection “the only smooth and undisturbed spot on the entire bullet-riddled beach.”
Last Thursday, my 17 year-old daughter was driving home when a strong storm came up. There was no driving around it or turning back to run from it. I prayed the protection of Psalm 91 over her. She arrived safely home and reported that there were clouds of pink and brown around her. (This indicates dust suspended in the air very strong updrafts.) She noted that she had driven past more than one tree which was still smoldering after being hit by lightning.
Kinship Christian Radio is no less a miracle. If Maury Schwen had stepped into a local bank in the early 1980’s and asked to borrow money to start a radio station in Blue Earth, Minnesota, financed entirely by donations because he had been given a vision by God, the only result would have been a good laugh at the local café when the banker told the story to his buddies.
But Maury and other believers prayed. From the beginning, Kinship Christian radio was “bathed in prayer.”
Yes, Kinship Christian radio is a miracle and the glory and praise goes to God, just as it should for Dunkirk and for my daughter’s safe return last Thursday night.
Thank you, LORD!
How about you? Are you in need of a miracle? Has there been a miracle in your life you could share here to encourage other believers? Are there “little miracles” we all take for granted but which deserve praise to God?
(Thanks to Sherry Wegner for the book Psalm 91 God’s Shield of Protection by Peggy Joyce Ruth and Angela Ruth Schum. This is an excellent book for any believer.)
Blog post written by Dan Jones
Today’s Praise