Midweek Devotion 4 June 2025

Reading

Isaiah 62:6

On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent.

Devotion

This 1975 oil on wood painting by nautical artist John Hamilton dwells at Naval History and Heritage Command on the Navy Yard in Washington, DC.  It portrays ENS Jack Reid's PBY-5A patrol plane of VP-44 finding the Japanese Fleet early in the morning on June 4, 1942, during the Battle of Midway.  The patrol plane was out on dawn patrol looking for the invasion force.  The U.S. Navy remembers the Battle of Midway the same way the Royal Navy remembers the Battle of Trafalgar, historic maritime encounters that changed the course of history.  As a retired Navy Chaplain these paintings capture my imagination.

The patrol plane reminds me of the need to be alert and anticipate.  I think this applies to our spiritual lives as well.  The late Stanford Linzy, who served as an enlisted man on USS YORKTOWN before becoming a Navy Chaplain after the war, wrote about his overwhelming anxiety in the night hours as the plane depicted above was being prepared for launch:

"Finally, in my desperation and mental anxiety I cried aloud to God in my pillow, "Lord I am saved and I know it.  If I must die, then I must.  It's ok with me.  I'm ready. Only one thing I ask of You, that You take this numbing fear out of my heart and mind so I can do my duty. Amen....In the first of many times that God would speak to me, He spoke the words of the prophet Zechariah: "Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).... At that moment, lying face down on my bunk with no one around me and all alone in the dark compartment, as I said "Amen" to my prayer, something wonderful happened.  I had an emotional experience I shall never forget.  I sensed...I felt...the weight and pressure of the moment physically and literally lift off my shoulders. At that instant the burden and the fear were dispelled.  I could feel it.  I was free" (God Was at Midway, pp 86 and 87).

May you, dear reader, be alert this week and may you be prepared for whatever battle you may face whether it be physically, emotionally, mentally, or socially with spiritual resources you can draw on.

Prayer

This is another day, O Lord.  I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be.  If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently.  And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus.  Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, p. 461)