God with Us?

It was December 7, 1941 and to the people of Honolulu the world had never seemed a drearier place. All hope was gone, no peace, no prosperity. It seemed the war had just ended, must it begin again?

Yet amongst this cloud of darkness a ray of hope dawned as Captain Nimitz, the newly commissioned leader of the U.S. navy stepped ashore to greet the destruction of Pearl Harbor. As he surveyed the damaged ships, the downcast inhabitants of that tiny island, and worst of all, the hundreds of men who were gone; Nimitz made a remark that would change the view of the war: a remark that brought a ray of hope to the tired Ally people. “Either God is with us, or the Japanese made three major mistakes.”

What he meant was this: despite the overwhelmingly evident destruction it was clear that God had protected the U.S. navy from total obliteration. The first mistake the Japanese made was holding off the bombing of the dry docks. In their excitement to find rows of easily targeted battleships, they missed the repair docks. Without these the U.S. would have to tow the damaged ships all the way to the mainland.

A second mistake played itself as the Japanese unknowingly made was the time of their attack. Sunday morning the majority of the men were on shore. Instead of the 3,800 dead, 38,000 could have been slaughtered in the two attacks alone.

Japan understood that in order to get a hold on America, they would need to bomb the carriers soon. Yamamoto had spent time in America, witnessing the amazing effects of the industrial revolution. When they arrived at Pearl Harbor the America carriers weren’t stationed there, only the battleships!

Finally, right behind a neighboring hill was the navy fuel supply. Had this been bombed, the time, money, and energy needed to haul more fuel to the islands would be devastating. The amazing providence of God is here shown in its incredibility. The admiral of the Japanese navy, Yamamoto, cancelled the third bombing attack that would have devastated the island’s fuel supply, the dry docks, and many more men. He, in his own words feared that he “had awakened a sleeping giant.” He was right, and in the following years America would demonstrate to the world the power of Christian roots. God was with them, and the world knew it.