Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II

I was witness to the final restoration of occupied territory, when, in 1972, sovereignty over Okinawa was returned to the government of Japan. The postwar occupation of Japan was not without problems or flaws, but history shows that ultimately these benign policies, based on an elevated view of human nature, indeed did bring recovery and reconciliation to a devastated nation.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

—Isaiah 54:10

December 19 Consumed by Your Anger

A few days after the atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima, the Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto was summoned to the deathbed of a parishioner suffering from burns and radiation sickness. Mr. Tanimoto, himself suffering from the shock and fatigue of dealing with the widespread misery, offered an Old Testament reading from his Japanese- language pocket Bible: “For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as asleep… For we are consumed by Thine anger and by Thy wrath are we troubled…”⁵³²

Isaac Watts used these words from Psalm 90 to convey a New Testament message in one of the greatest Christian hymns ever written:

Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home.
A thousand ages in Thy sight Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever rolling stream, Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day.
Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home.⁵³³

This hymn gives a masterful portrait of our mighty Lord and of his perspective on time and humanity. From his viewpoint our lives truly go by in a flash, and, on Earth, we are quickly forgotten. However, this hymn goes further to highlight another facet of God’s character. God loves us and provides an eternal home for us to be with him. Through his Son, he gives us the sure way to forgiveness, peace, and everlasting life. The degree of our pain and hardship in this life no longer matter. We can find comfort in God’s perspective and in the hope that he gives us for the future.

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

—John 5:24

December 20 Fearful Loneliness

Miss Toshiko Sasaki lost everything on the day Hiroshima was bombed. Her home was destroyed and her parents and younger brother died. She suffered a compound fracture of her leg, months of nightmarish pain, and a permanently crippled condition. As she grew more and more depressed and morbid, she was befriended by a German missionary priest, himself a survivor of the bomb blast. The priest walked great distances to see her in spite of his own pain and weakness. He carefully introduced religion into their talks, which she at first bitterly resisted. She had a hard time with the idea of a loving God that would allow the suffering she had seen. Over time, the priest’s patient faithfulness changed her heart, and she became a Christian.

After recovering from her wounds Sasaki worked in a retirement home for old people and eventually became its director. She found that her greatest gift as a Christian was the ability to help others die in peace:

She had seen so much death in Hiroshima after the bombing, and had seen what strange things so many people did when they were cornered by death, that nothing now surprised or frightened her. The first time she stood watch by a dying inmate, she vividly remembered a night soon after the bombing when she had lain out in the open, uncared for, in dreadful pain, beside a young man who was dying. She had talked with him all night, and had become aware, above all, of his fearful loneliness. She had watched him die in the morning. At deathbeds in the home, she was always mindful of this terrible solitude. She would speak little to the dying person but would hold a hand or touch an arm, as an assertion, simply, that she was there.⁵³⁴

We all seem to worry about finding “the right thing to say” to a dying person and their loved ones. If we are able to share God’s love and provide spiritual comfort with words, we should certainly do so. However, this story is an inspiring reminder that our presence and touch are usually more important than what we say to a person facing the end of life.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

—Ephesians 2:67

December 21 Divine Providence

After the war President Harry Truman took part in a dedication ceremony for the New York Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., where many presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, had worshipped. He took the occasion to express some heartfelt views on America’s relationship to God and the world.

We talk a lot these days about freedom freedom for the individual and freedom among the nations. Freedom for the human soul is, indeed, the most important principle of our civilization. We must always remember, however, that the freedom we are talking about is freedom based upon moral principles. Without a firm moral foundation, freedom degenerates quickly into selfishness and license.

I do not think that anyone can study the history of this Nation of ours study it deeply and earnestly without becoming convinced that divine providence has played a great part in it. I have the feeling that God has created us and brought us to our present position of power and strength for some great purpose.