My judgments flashed like lightning upon you. For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
November 14
The German attacks were almost continuous. The remnants of a British airborne unit was holding on to its tenuous position in a battered school building as casualties mounted and ammunition dwindled. Their mission was to defend the eastern side of the Rhine River bridge at Arnhem until relieved. Hours of waiting had turned into days, as the relief column was hopelessly delayed in heavy fighting. Meanwhile, an officer in the school building described the scene:
By morning I had to issue more Bensedrine to face the dawn attack. No one had now had any sleep for seventy-two hours. The water had given out twelve hours ago and food twenty-four hours ago… The men themselves were the grimmest sight of all: eyes red-rimmed for want of sleep, their faces, blackened by fire- fighting, wore three days’ growth of beard. Many of them had minor wounds, and their clothes were cut away to expose a roughly fixed, blood-soaked field dressing. They were huddled in twos and threes, each little group manning positions that required twice that number. The only clean things in the school were the weapons. These shone brightly in the morning sun, with their gleaming clips of ammunition beside them.475
Clean weapons shining in the midst of a dirty and chaotic battle scene presents a powerful image. It reminds us of God’s armor, designed to protect us from the evils of the world. Although mostly defensive in nature, it also includes one powerful offensive weapon: “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”(Ephesians 6:17). When this weapon is kept burnished through constant study and application, we are prepared for the spiritual battles and chaos of this world.
The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
November 15
Jim Koerner saw too much. In fighting with the 10th Armored Division he saw buddies wounded and killed by small arms fire, artillery, mines, and booby traps. In December 1944 he was separated from his unit and captured by the Germans, suffering constantly from exposure, hunger, and Allied bombing attacks. After the war he continued to suffer nervous depression and had to take tranquilizers to function. His father had committed suicide before him, and twice, in his confused state, he held a gun to his own head. He declared that his salvation came in a prayer that he found in the wallet of a deceased friend:
The everlasting God has in His wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents you as a gift from His inmost heart. The cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with loving arms, and weighed with His loving hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His holy name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you and alms of the all merciful love of God.476
I now carry this prayer in my own wallet as a constant reminder that God will not give me more to do or to bear in this life than I can handle. With Him beside me I can endure any trial and see any task through to completion. Jesus said, “Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). We can have faith that, whatever cross we bear, it is the cross that he has given us. He will also give us the strength to carry it.
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
November 16
In December 1944, Chaplain (Col.) James O’Neill published a Training Letter to the 486 chaplains of the 3rd Army under his supervision. At the request of his commanding general, more than three thousand copies of the letter were printed so that distribution could be made to unit commanders as well. The subject was prayer:
Our glorious march from the Normandy Beach across France to where we stand, before and beyond the Siegfried Line, with the wreckage of the German Army behind us, should convince the most skeptical soldier that God has ridden with our banner.
As chaplains it is our business to pray. We preach its importance. We urge its practice. But the time is now to intensify our faith in prayer, not alone with ourselves, but with every believing man, Protestant, Catholic, Jew, or Christian, in the ranks of the Third United States Army.
Urge all of your men to pray, not alone in church, but everywhere. Pray when driving. Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains, for good weather for Battle. Pray for the defeat of our wicked enemy whose banner is injustice and whose good is oppression. Pray for Victory, Pray for our Army, and pray for Peace.
Now is not the time to follow God from ‘afar off.’ This Army needs the assurance and faith that God is with us. With prayer, we cannot fail.477
The apostle Paul urged the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing”(1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV). Chaplain O’Neill gives us a simple explanation of this difficult concept. We can certainly pray in church or any other quiet place. However, we can also converse with God while walking, driving, or in the midst of a crowd. When Jesus said to “go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father”(Matthew 6:6), he was telling believers to go within themselves. We can do this anywhere. What goes on within, between God and us, is more important than the place where it happens.
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?”
