This verse was certainly true in the case of a young sailor during World War II. His ship had been damaged by a torpedo and put into Norfolk, Virginia, for repairs. The sailor phoned his mother and said, “Mom, I’m coming home for a few days.”
She asked him, “How come? What happened?”
“I can’t tell you over the phone, but our ship is in the harbor for a few days. May I bring a buddy home with me?”
“Yes, Son, bring him along.”
After a time they received word to be back in time to sail at a certain day and hour. The boys went to the Union Station in St. Louis to take the train back to Norfolk. The ticket agent told them that another, faster train left twelve hours later than the one they had planned to take and that it would get them to Norfolk two hours before the scheduled sailing.
“But suppose the train is late?” they asked.
The agent inquired at what hour the ship sailed and asked them how long it took to get to the ship from the train. They would have two hours to make the one-hour trip to the ship. The agent assured them that the fast train was never late.
So, lulled into a sense of security by the ticket agent’s confidence, they spent a few more pleasant hours at home. But the fast train was late getting started and somehow seemed to lose a little more time all the way to Norfolk. The boys were uneasy from the start, and when the train finally arrived it was two hours late.
Their ship was just leaving the harbor!
The unhappy sailor wrote to his mother, “Mom, we are in this place [the brig] on bread and water for two weeks.” What a change from home and mother!
But—remember the verse from the Bible at the head of this little story? Little did the boys realize that God was over it all, and it was for their good. While the boys were in the brig, the ship sailed out only about 100 miles and was hit by a second torpedo. This time it went down with all on board. Not one survived. The boys were providentially preserved by God’s mercy. One of them belonged to the Lord, and the other was given another opportunity to receive Christ as his own Saviour.
God in His grace overruled for these two boys, and their lives were spared. Many of us who have been saved by the precious blood of Jesus can look back and see where the Lord kept us and delivered us from danger. The Lord has promised never to leave nor to forsake those who belong to Him.
You may be faced with unknown danger. How would it be with you if you died today? Do you know that your sins are forgiven?
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that
we are not consumed, because
His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning:
great is Thy faithfulness.”