During World War II, when the government of France collapsed, the army was ordered to stop fighting and to lay down their weapons. There were many officers who tried to save their men and themselves from surrender. Among these was the colonel of an artillery regiment which was stationed well west of the Maginot Line.
When the colonel heard of the fall of Paris and of the rapid advance of the Germans, he ordered his regiment to retreat at once towards a district where it was thought they would be safe.
The order was issued on June 14, and three days and nights of rapid travel were needed. The retreat began the evening of June 14 and continued June 15 and June 16. Will was a young ambulance driver, and on that third day his motor suddenly stopped. Something was wrong! There was nothing to do but move aside out of the line of retreat and try to find and repair the damage. None dare to stop to help, and soon Will was alone with his passenger, an officer. There was no time to be lost, for the German army was following closely.
Will’s parents were Christian missionaries in China. On that June 16 they had it greatly pressed upon their hearts that their beloved son was in special danger, and they prayed earnestly that the Lord would protect and deliver him.
Will himself knew that same source of guidance and help, and he prayed that he might speedily find the cause of trouble in his engine. The prayers were answered. Will was led to prompt discovery of the trouble and was able to fix it. But the regiment had passed on and there was no guide to show him the way. The officer who was his passenger in the ambulance just “happened” to have with him a road map covering just that very district, and using it they proceeded.
As they advanced, they found bridges destroyed and roads blocked. At times shells fell to the left and right of them, but they were unhurt. Several times they narrowly escaped capture by German troops. Without the road map they would have been almost helpless; using it, they reached the expected place of safety. Their ambulance was the very last to arrive.
There are those who will perhaps think that the statement of God’s answering prayer, causing the ambulance driver to quickly discover the problem in his engine and to have so ordered it that the one passenger had the needed road map, was nothing but religious sentiment.
If that is your thought, it is clear that you know nothing of the love of God for us poor human creatures. Did you never read what our Lord said when on this earth: “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?” He adds, “Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.... Ye are of more value than many sparrows.”
Of our Lord Jesus we are told that He was the brightness of God’s glory, the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power. In love to you and me, He laid aside that glory for a time. He came into this world, became a man and went to the cross of Calvary to die for us. He accomplished the work of redemption for us. “The Son of God...loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)).
Surely, you will not close your heart against such love as this?