Gospel Moment: Protected for a Purpose
- Rex Ballard
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
In the summer of 1755, a 23-year-old colonial officer named George Washington rode into the deadly chaos of the Battle of the Monongahela. British General Edward Braddock’s forces were ambushed by French and Native American warriors in the dense Pennsylvania wilderness. Officers fell all around him. Two horses were shot out from under Washington. Four bullets tore through his coat. Yet when the smoke cleared, he stood unharmed.
Washington himself later wrote to his brother:
“By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me.”
Nearly 270 years later, on a July afternoon in 2024, another American leader stood on a stage in Butler, Pennsylvania. A would-be assassin’s bullet tore through the air and struck Donald Trump in the ear. In that split second, the trajectory that could have ended his life instead left only a wound. He rose, blood on his face, raised his fist, and declared, “Fight!” Many who watched that moment—and Trump himself—recognized the unmistakable hand of God.
Two very different men. Two very different centuries. The same unmistakable pattern: when death was leveling those around them, the Lord preserved them.
Scripture is filled with such moments. David faced Goliath and later fled from Saul while the Lord repeatedly delivered him. Daniel was thrown to the lions, yet the mouths of the beasts were shut. Paul was stoned, shipwrecked, beaten, and left for dead—yet kept preaching until his mission was complete. Over and over, God places His hand of protection on those He has called so they can finish the work He has assigned them.
Washington would go on to lead a ragtag army through an impossible war and help establish a nation founded on the truth that our rights come from the Creator. The man who should have died in the woods of western Pennsylvania was preserved because God still had work for him to do. In our own day, another life was spared in a moment that could have rewritten history. Whether we agree with every decision a leader makes is secondary to the greater truth: the God who holds the stars in place also holds the trajectory of a bullet.
A Word for Us Today
Beloved friends in the North State and beyond, how many times has the Lord spared you? How many close calls, unexpected recoveries, or moments when “it could have been so much worse” have marked your path? We are often tempted to chalk them up to luck, skill, or coincidence. Scripture invites us to see something deeper: the quiet, steady hand of Providence.
You may not stand on a battlefield or a campaign stage. But if you belong to Christ, you are called to something eternal. The same God who watched over a young Virginia officer and over a modern president still watches over His people. He still preserves lives for purposes we cannot yet see. He still calls us to trust Him when the bullets of life are flying—whether those are financial pressures, health crises, family struggles, or the cultural battles of our day.
This week, take a moment to remember the times God has protected you. Thank Him. Then ask Him: “Lord, for what purpose have You preserved me? How do You want me to live in light of that mercy?”
A Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, We thank You for the countless ways Your hand of Providence has rested on Your people throughout history—and on our own lives. Thank You for preserving George Washington in the forests of 1755 and for sparing another life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in our own generation.
Thank You even more for the greater protection we have in Jesus Christ, who faced the full force of sin and death and emerged victorious so that we might live.
Help us to recognize Your care in the ordinary and extraordinary moments of our days. Give us faith to believe that nothing reaches us without first passing through Your loving hands. And when we are tempted to fear, remind us that it is God who writes our story.
Use our preserved lives for Your glory. In the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.
This is your Gospel Moment: The same Providence that shielded a young soldier in the wilderness and a man on a rally stage is still at work. Believe. Trust. Walk in the purpose for which you have been preserved.
Shasta Unfiltered
