During the pandemic of the past year, there have been several times when prominent Christians have tried to urge our national leaders to call the country to prayer. For whatever reasons, our spiritual leaders, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, and our political leaders, such as the Prime Minister, have declined to pick up the mantle.
What I find interesting is that it seems the UK is suffering from spiritual amnesia.
On 24 May, it will be exactly 81 years – only one or two generations, depending on your age – since the King called the nation to pray.
It was a pivotal point in World War II and it was on that exact same day – as multitudes of people were praying – when miracle after miracle occurred at Dunkirk.
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When King George VI went on the radio, calling people to come together for a National Day of Prayer, millions responded. Huge queues formed outside churches, chapels and cathedrals, where collective prayers were offered up in utter desperation.
At the time, the Allied soldiers were trapped in occupied France. In one direction was the English Channel. In the other was the military might of the advancing Nazi army. They were completely stuck.
But as the people of Great Britain prayed, God heard those prayers – and responded.
The following day, a ramshackle flotilla of boats set sail across the English Channel to rescue the Allied soldiers. It was then that three miracles took place, all in quick succession.
Firstly, unseasonable storms began to batter the coast of France. Such atrocious weather meant the German air force couldn’t attack the Allied soldiers from the air.
Secondly, Hitler made a major tactical error, which has baffled military historians to this day, and which they are still unable to explain. He ordered the German army not to move. So the Allied soldiers weren’t attacked from the ground.
And thirdly, the English Channel became suddenly and inexplicably calm. Just as the ramshackle flotilla of boats set sail from France. This meant that fleet of vessels didn’t capsize as they crossed the sea, enabling more than 338,000 Allied soldiers to be rescued.
Winston Churchill called this incredible set of circumstances, “The Miracle of Dunkirk”.
Some people say it was down to remarkable luck. Like many before me, I prefer to say it was down to answered prayer.
In my opinion, it remains, to this day, one of the most significant answers to prayer that Great Britain has ever experienced.
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It will take you 7.5 minutes to watch this stirring story of what happened, in an easy to understand commentary from Richard Gamble, who heads up the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer, which I have previously blogged about here.
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Why do you think we so easily forget what God has done for our nation in previous generations?
What does it tell us about the importance of remembering, recalling, retelling the stories of how He has answered our prayers in the past, and how He might answer our prayers in the future?
How can we use this inspiration to pray for our nation – or other nations, if you are reading this from outside the UK – as we emerge from the pandemic of this past year?
As ever, all thoughts and reflections would be welcome in the comments below.
Photo by Kevin Yudhistira Alloni on Unsplash
2 Comments
Jo, thank you for another wonderful story of God’s goodness and miraculous intervention at times when we need Him, get on our knees and pray. It is so good to hear of the things that needed to be in place for any sort of rescue to happen. God’s response to a nation praying led to the miraculous rescue of hundreds of thousands of men. What an incredible God we serve.
I’m so glad to hear you’ve been encouraged by God’s goodness and miraculous intervention, Janet!