The Blessing in the Flames

The best way out is through the middle. (9-minute read)

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Toward the end of World War II, President Harry Truman awarded U.S. Army medic Desmond Doss the Medal of Honor for risking his life seventy-five times in order to save the lives of his fellow soldiers. Under extremely heavy and relentless enemy fire, Doss dragged those men one at a time to safety. You may have seen his story in the Mel Gibson action film Hacksaw Ridge.

At the end of the movie, the real Desmond Doss in a documentary interview describes what kept him going back into the middle of the firefight for twelve hours straight in the midst of a dark and dangerous battlefield. He humbly states, “I was praying the whole time. I just kept praying, ‘Lord, please help me get one more.’” He asked for help seventy-five times, and God kept saying yes.

Was his unwavering faith that much bigger than yours and mine, or did he understand something more deeply about how God works in our lives? The answer to that question is what we will explore today.

Recently, we explored the concept of patience from a biblical perspective. We discovered how patience helps us have and practice faith. Last summer in an article called Splashdown we discussed how important it is to stay in faith during problems by keeping our focus on God. Both of those articles looked at things we can and should do when our faith is put to the test.

This discussion will turn things around to focus on what the Bible says God will do when we find ourselves under fire in the middle of one of life’s storms. First we need to take a brief, big picture view of our life as we exist in this world within the finite constraints of time.