Gifts from Above: June 26th Devotional

"Gifts from Above"

June 26th Devotional

James 1:17

On this day in 1948, President Harry Truman along with other allies begin a massive relief effort called the Berlin airlift. World war II had just ended three years previously and the world was still reeling from the aftermath of so much devastation. Tragically the end of the war did not diminish the tensions at that time. After the war, Germany was divided among the allies into 4 segments. One was given to the United States, another to the United Kingdom, another to the French, and a final quarter to the Soviets. Falling in the middle of this division was the German capital of Berlin. Berlin suffered severe devastation and was struggling to rise from the ashes. To complicate matters the Soviets attempted to create a blockade to prevent any aid to Berlin. This would cut off over 2 million people from food, oil, and other crucial supplies for daily life. President Truman and the allies debated on a military response but resigned to a more peaceful resolution. The Allies agreed to fly planes from the United Kingdom and West Germany over the city of Berlin to provide necessary supplies like food, clothing, fuel, medicine, and other essentials that they were desperately lacking. Multiple different makes of planes were used such as Boeing, Fairchild, and Lockheed, but the most famous were the c-47 and the c52s. Wikipedia mentions that during the length of this mission those two types of aircraft flew 92 million miles, almost the distance from the Earth to the sun. These planes took off every 4 minutes without end. Every day these planes would drop between 5 to 8 thousand tons of supplies. Pilots would often make two to three runs per day. Tragically 70 soldiers died in these operations. The Berlin airlift lasted until May of 1949 when negotiations started afresh with the Soviets. The Soviets saw the futility of their blockade and ended it.

The Germans that were on the ground would often hear the noise of planes and rush outside to receive the much-needed supplies as they were dropped. Their hearts were filled with gratitude for the ample supply that the Allies provided. They often called it gifts from above. The Allies were not the only ones to provide gifts from the sky. The Bible tells us in James 1:17, " Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the providing hand of a loving all-knowing Father. A good father loves to provide for their children and God is no exception. It is in his constant unchanging nature to take care of his children. The gifts that he provides are good, perfect, and always in his timing. We can trust in God's never-failing provision because James tells us that there is no shadow of turning (or change) in God's faithfulness. We do not need to look to the skies hoping for a plane to drop good gifts on us. We merely need to drop to our knees thanking our Father in heaven for how he cares for us.