None of us experiences a life free from trials. They come in many forms and at many times. Some are from without, as we experience loss or opposition. Some come from within, as we are weighed down by discouragement and even depression. Others are the result of debilitating illness or broken relationships. Sadly, for some it can even be result of war. Sometimes they catch us off guard, and if we are not spiritually armed, we will find ourselves struggling, wondering where God is, and if He has deserted us. But what is common to us all is that we will experience situations where we cannot manage in our own strength, but must cry out to the Lord.
The Thirty Years War in Germany was such a time. This conflict lasted from 1618 to 1648, as competing forces sought to gain control of the region, either Protestant or Catholic. As armies engaged one another, common folk were caught in the middle. One-third of the population of the country died during those years. It wasn’t just the soldiers in battle (and the collateral civilian deaths). It was also the diseases that spread from the decaying corpses in the fields, and the starvation that resulted from food supplies being destroyed by the retreating armies. Back and forth the pendulum swung, until the Peace of Westphalia finally brought it to an end.