Between September 1940 and May 1941 the Nazis dropped 100s of tonnes of bombs on Britain.
London was attacked 71 times and bombarded for 57 consecutive nights. Over 1,000,000 homes were destroyed with tens of thousands of civilian casualties. This bombardment was known as the London Blitz. The destruction was overwhelming.
Bomb shelters deep beneath the ground provided the most protection against a direct hit. The British government began allowing the public to find shelter in the underground Tube stations as well. Each day orderly masses of people lined up in the afternoon to be allowed to enter the stations for the evening during the ongoing Nazi bombing raids. At the height of the bombing over 100,000 people were sleeping in the Tube stations.
Air raid sirens would warn residents of an impending attack. At the sound of the sirens residents would move as quickly as possible to the nearest air raid/bomb shelter to wait out the bombings in relative safety.
We toured a London air raid shelter as a family when the boys were younger. It was a moving experience to sit there in the cool, dimly lit corridors imagining what it would be like to fearfully wait through a long night of seemingly ceaseless bombing wondering what you would find when you emerged in the morning.
When a bombing attack was signaled by the air raid siren, there was no room for hesitation, you would run to the nearest bomb shelter whenever possible.
I thought of this recently during a time of particularly bad news. I received news from a number of people about all manner of calamity that was befalling them: sickness, disease, near death incidents, life-altering medical issues, relationship breakdowns, lost opportunities, broken dreams, and financial stresses, strains and collapse.
Life can sometimes feel like a bombardment can’t it? Oftentimes without any warning calamity can hit.
So where do you run to when the bombing starts?
Proverbs 18:10 tells us that “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”
When difficulty or crisis hits do you run to the Lord? Do you find your refuge in Him? Is He your shelter?
We can have a tendency to run to the Lord only after we have exhausted other means available to us. Our first response is to put our heads down and push through things. We can often try to gut it out alone without the help or encouragement of others, and without seeking God in the midst of the difficulty.
However, the Lord is our strong tower; He is our refuge and our strength. The righteous run to him first. We would be wise to run to the Lord in prayer when difficulties befall us. When we find ourselves in the midst of a destructive bombardment we need to find our shelter in the Lord and in His truth.
And, oftentimes, it is God’s people who help us find encouragement in God. Trying to ride out difficulty alone simply prolongs and deepens the difficulty. Running to the Lord and seeking the encouragement of trusted Godly friends and family will sustain you amidst the bombardments of life.
Psalm 91 is a beautiful promise and encouragement to run to God – to find our shelter in Him:
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”
“You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.”
“If you say, ‘The Lord is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”
“‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.’”
So where do you run to? Or should I say, “Who do you run to?”