Veteran's Day 2023

Psalms 124:1-8 11/12/23 a.m. Day after Veterans

Today we honor our Veterans. These men and women were not called upon to give their ALL. That’s why they are here with us today. They’re alive. But they were WILLING to give their ALL. And they ALL gave some of their life for you and I. It COST all of them something that we as a people and a nation will never be able to REPAY.

Some of them still carry physical scars from their time in the service and they ALL have MEMORIES from their time serving our country that they will NEVER forget.

And I just want to say this. I’m SO THANKFUL that they are here today. I know God’s protection was upon them whether they were in battle or not.

ILLUS: Maybe I’m overthinking this but I think about what if they wouldn’t have come home. What if I had never met them. How much we all would have missed out on NOT knowing them and hearing their stories.

I think about my own grandfather who died when he was my age. 57. A WW2 Veteran who was injured while fighting in Belgium. What a sweet man that he was and even though he died so young, I got to know him. Why? Because the LORD’S HAND was upon him and God spared his life from a German Grenade that severely injured him. God spared his life so that he could put his trust in Jesus before he died. And now today, my dad and him are together and someday I’ll get to join them in Heaven.

This morning I want to preach to you about the GOODNESS and PROTECTION of God. How if it weren’t for Him we would all be destroyed. So I want to read the 124th Psalm. We’ll begin with Verse 1 and read all 8 Verses.

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;

2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us:

3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:

4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:

5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

6 Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

I love history and I especially love military history. And I REALLY LOVE Aviation Military History.

It was 1943, and a B17 Bomber named Tondelayo was flying a mission over Kassel, Germany. The plane was piloted by a fellow by the name of Bohn Fawkes. But on this particular mission the flack from the German ant-aircraft guns was strong and the Tondelayo was hit.

It wasn’t too unusual to be hit but this day was different. The Tondelayo’s FUEL TANK was hit by a 20mm shell. And for some reason, it didn’t explode. They made it back to base and landed safely. But there’s more to the story. It wasn’t just one 20mm shell that hit their fuel tank. It was 11. They found 11, 20mm shells inside the fuel tank of their B17 Bomber and none of them had exploded. It was a miracle. They removed all the shells and sent them to be defused. What they found was amazing. None of the shells were armed. None of them had an explosive charge. But one of them had a rolled up note inside the casing where the charge would have been. It was written in Czeckoslavakian. And when it was translated to English, this is what it said. “This is all we can do for you now.”

A Czech war prisoner, working in terrible conditions, had risked his life to do what he could for the cause of FREEDOM. If it had not been for the PROTECTION of God and HIM working in the lives of people, like that Czeckoslavakian man, everyone on that B17 would have been killed.

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side”

Before I get into my message, let’s go to the lord in Prayer.

Brother ____, would you lead us?

I. As we look here at the 124th Psalm, both Verses 1 and 2 start off with, “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side.”

And then Verse 2 goes on to say, “when men rose up against us:”

Psalms 124 is a Psalm of David. A lot of scholars believe he wrote it when the Philistines came up against Israel. David knew the FIGHTING POWER of the Philistine Army. They were known throughout the region for their advanced weaponry and powerful military. David knew that on their own, Israel would be totally destroyed without God being on their side.