God wills it
The First Crusade departs
The armies of the First Crusade depart in 1096 under four major leaders — Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond of Toulouse, Bohemond of Taranto, and Robert of Flanders — and make their way across Europe, through the Byzantine Empire, and into the heat and dust of Anatolia and Syria.
It is a military campaign of extraordinary brutality by any standard, and an extraordinary military achievement. The Crusaders are far from home, in an alien climate, supplied by a logistics chain stretched to breaking, fighting armies that know the terrain.
They should lose. They win.
The siege of Antioch in 1097–1098 is one of the most dramatic events in medieval military history. The Crusaders besiege the city for eight months, then are themselves besieged inside it. A pilgrim named Peter Bartholomew claims a vision directing him to dig under the cathedral, where he finds a relic he calls the Holy Lance — the spear that pierced Christ's side. The discovery, whether genuine or manufactured, produces a surge of energy in the starving, desperate army. They charge out of the city and defeat the Muslim relief force.
The Holy Lance may have been a fake. The victory was real.
The Crusaders reach Jerusalem in June 1099.
“This is the will of God — that through your labors the Holy City might be freed from the hands of those who oppress it.”
— Peter the Hermit, c. 1096 AD
“Haven't I commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; don't be afraid, neither be dismayed: for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
The Crusaders reached Jerusalem against enormous odds. By almost any military analysis, they should not have succeeded. The fact that they did was read by contemporaries as confirmation that God willed it.
But God willing a military campaign to succeed does not mean he endorsed everything done in the course of it — or everything done when the goal was achieved.
Providence is not endorsement. God can bring something to completion without approving every step of how it was brought. This is one of the hardest lessons in reading history theologically.
What outcomes in your life have you read as divine endorsement that may have been divine providence — brought to completion despite, not because of, how you handled it?