I DON’T think I’ll ever fully appreciate the extent to which my father’s faith was damaged by his time in the military. He was baptised as a believer just before he joined the army and would never have done that ‘for form’s sake’. He was far too serious a character to go through the motions. But, for reasons he never explained, church going didn’t figure in his post war life at all.

He was a member of the SAS and had killed others in hand-to-hand combat. I think it’s reasonable to assume that experiences such as that must affect your faith in God. In fact, I reckon they could wreck your faith in the purpose of life itself as Wilfred Owen highlighted in his poem ‘Futility’. Gazing on the body of yet another dead soldier he wrote, ‘O what made fatuous sunbeams toil to break earth’s sleep at all?’. There must be a lot of people in Ukraine and Gaza who could identify with that sense of despair today.

But, as is so often the case, the issue is much more complicated. CS Lewis pointed this out when he said “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience but shouts in our pains.”

This was certainly true for the author of Psalm 46. His experience of conflict led him to believe that God is a “refuge and strength” who is always willing to help us when we’re in trouble. As I reflected on this, I thought it might encourage you if I introduced you to a few friends who have found this to be true.

There is the pastor I met in war-torn Croatia for example. He and his family were living on the front line, and they could have fled to safety but chose to stay at their post because they believed God was in control of all that would happen to them.

His church was equally inspirational. It was located between the two opposing front lines, but the congregation was made up of people from both sides of the bitter ethnic divide. Their faith gave them the courage as well as the desire to worship together despite the danger.

It enabled them to forgive one another too as I discovered when one lady told me how she had forgiven the soldiers who had treated her father and sister in the most horrendous way.

Another pastor told me how God had miraculously provided him with masses of material aid so that he could help the thousands of refugees who had arrived in his town.

I value Remembrance Day. It’s right to spend time thinking of those who have served and continue to serve our country, often at great cost. But there’s one thing we would do well to remember every day: God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.