A Lesson on Providence at Shiloh

The beautiful woman in the picture to the left is my wife, Rachelle Burleson. The story I'm about to tell you is personal, one that I have researched for a few years. The reason I think you will benefit from reading it is because it revolves around God and His sovereignty over all His creation, particularly His people.  I believe in a personal God. I believe "the Lord Almighty has a purpose, and nobody can change his plans" (Isaiah 14:27). The Psalmist proclaims "God has established His throne in the heavens and His Kingdom rules over all" (Psalm 103:19) and I concur wholeheartedly. Creation is either the product of random chaos or the plan of a reigning Creator, and to affirm the former is to live a fearful, hopeless life. To believe the latter is to live a life filled with hope, strength, and purpose. 



On Sunday afternoon, April 6, 1862, two men died not more than 100 yards apart from each other during the Battle of Shiloh. They both died in the woods just west of the Tennessee River. Both died of gunshot wounds. Both died in the arms of friends. Both men were Christians. Both places where they died have had markers placed at Shiloh to identify the spot. The first man who died (pictured) was the highest ranking officer to be killed on the battlefield during the Civil War. His name was General Sydney Albert Johnston. He had led the army of the Confederate States of America into the Battle of Shiloh. About 3:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon Johnston had been found sitting on his horse, losing consciousness as he bled out from a gunshot wound to the back of his right knee. He had come to the front lines a few minutes earlier to rally Confederate troops, including the Arkansas 6th Infantry Regiment, as they attacked the Union left flank to drive the Union army into the Tennessee River. Isham G. Harris, the man who discovered the wounded General and carried him to the safety of a nearby ravine and cared for him until Johnston died, would later became the governor of Tennessee. As word of the death of General Sydney Albert Johnston spread among the troops, the CSA solders became demoralized. Some scholars believe General Johnston's absence on the battlefield eventually led to the Confederates losing the Battle of Shiloh.


That same Sunday afternoon not more than 100 yards away from where General Johnston lay dying in the ravine, the other man in this story also died. His name was Jesse Mock. Unlike General Johnston, Jesse was a private. Unlike General Johnston, Jesse was a Union soldier, not a Confederate. Unlike General Johnston, not very many people noticed when Union Private Jesse Mock died. Jesse and his fellow Illinois volunteers had been firing at General Johnston and the Confederate troops when Jesse was shot in the chest. Unlike General Johnston, the man who cared for Jesse after he was wounded would not become a future governor. The man who cradled Jesse Mock as he died was his brother, William Mock. The Mock brothers were attached to the 9th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Of all the regiments in the Union army at Shiloh, the Illinois 9th Regiment lost more men than any other. Jesse Mock was one of those men. Nobody knows who shot General Johnston. Nobody knows who shot Jesse Mock. Everyone knows they died on the same woods, within the same hour, during the same battle, under similar circumstances.


Jesse Mock is my wife's great-great uncle. Jesse's brother on the battlefield at Shiloh, William
Mock, is my wife's great-great grandfather. William survived the Civil War, and in honor of his dead brother, William named his first born son Jesse. Jesse then had a son named Charles (Rachelle's grandfather) and Charles had a son he named Don (Rachelle's father). As Rachelle and I walked yesterday to the monument where the 9th Illinois engaged General Johnston and the CSA troops, to the very place where private Jesse Mock and many more Union solders of the Illinois 9th were killed and buried during the Battle of Shiloh, I couldn't help but wonder what my world would be like today if just one or two things had been different on that April Sunday afternoon in 1862. What if General Johnston had not been killed?  What if the Confederates have won the Battle of Shiloh? What if William Mock had died and Jesse Mock had lived? What if ....?

It is probably a waste of time to think such thoughts about stray bullets and battlefield chance. The Bible declares that God "works all things after the counsel of His own will." Our God is either running the entire universe today, or as some of my friends believe, it has slipped out from under Him. I reject their view that God is not in charge because it not only violates the teaching of Scripture, it destroys all hope in the human soul. Providence is the unseen rudder on the ship of state. God is the pilot at the wheel during the night watch. As J. Vernon McGee said, "God makes great doors swing on little hinges." He brought together a little baby's cry and a woman's heart down by the River Nile when Pharaoh's daughter went to bathe. The Lord pinched little Moses and he let out a yell. The cry reached the heart of the princess, and God used it to change the destiny of a people. That was providence.

Likewise, God orchestrated all events at Shiloh so that one day I would eventually meet the beautiful woman whose great-great grandfather survived wounds in both thighs while his own brother died and was buried in the fields of Shiloh. I am grateful that our God sits on His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all. So are my kids.

"Sovereign Ruler of the skies,

Ever gracious, ever wise;

All my times are in Thy hand,

All events at Thy command.

 

He who formed me in the womb,

He will guide me to the tomb.

Plagues and deaths around me fly,

Till He bids I shall not die."

 

For those who wish to "curse God and die" when bad things happen to God's people, I simply remind you of Job's words when he lost his job, his home, his family, his land, and his wife told him to do that very thing. Job responded,  "What? Shall we receive good things from God and not affliction? The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord."  Amen.