“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:43-45
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"Be not afraid..." Jesus Christ many times throughout the New Testament
The verses highlighted above are some of the most difficult teaching of Jesus to his followers. Especially when you are a prisoner to pure evil, an evil that wants to destroy everything you find good.
I recently read The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, and was
deeply moved by the true story. I highly recommend reading this book. The story is about Ms. ten Boom and her
family during World War II. Her father, Casper ten Boom was a man of deep and
abiding Christian faith. He passed this faith along to his children, and anyone
else who would listen. We are introduced to this Dutch family that lives in
Holland from Corrie’s childhood on. She was born in 1892, and grew up the
daughter of a watchmaker. In addition to watches, the ten Boom home was also a
place that welcomed strangers and fed them a meal. Seems there was always an
extra place setting every evening at dinner time. However, their world changed
in 1940.
The Nazis invaded Holland, conquered the Dutch and set up an
occupation government. Life became especially difficult for those of the Jewish
faith. Soon, the ten Boom family found themselves being besieged by requests
from Jewish people for not only food, but shelter and safety from the Nazis.
Their Christian faith compels the ten Boom’s to take them in, feed them and
hide them from the Nazis while doing their best to carry forward as
watchmakers. Soon, Corrie finds herself deep in the resistance movement,
defying the Nazis, and taking bigger and bigger risks to help out her house
guests. This all comes crashing down on February 28, 1944, when the Nazis raid
the home and arrest the entire ten Boom family after being betrayed by a young
man posing as a Jew in need of help.
From there, the book details Corrie’s struggles in prison,
her attempts to find out news about her family, especially her father. What we
find is not only a story of resistance to pure evil, but a family that lives
out its faith to the very end. It is the deeper story of the family that lives
out its faith that has me utterly fascinated. How did they live out their
faith? How did they build it? How could they trust it? And how could they use
it to stand up to evil?
Corrie ten Boom and her family had a relationship
with God, built brick by brick over many years. When they needed that faith, it
was there for them. Their faith came from many years of not only gaining
expertise (i.e. reading the Bible), but through years of trust, built on their
experience. They knew from many small incidents that God’s hand was present, so
when they were faced with a big crisis moment, they knew God was there with
them. It was this faith that taught them to embrace some of Jesus’s most
difficult teachings in these crisis-filled days. We see that Corrie’s sister
Betsie naturally and instinctively prayed, from prison, for God’s blessings on
the young man who betrayed them over to the Nazis. Who does that? Not me! How
did she find the faith and the strength to pray for this man? She knew God
would be with her and deliver her ultimately from the hand of the Nazis.
Surviving in those moments, it is difficult to see God’s presence, and it takes
a faith that I admit never having had to see Him. We also see these women march
forward in faith. How many times did Jesus instruct us to “be not afraid”?
Their faith, built over many years, had taught them not to be afraid. Even when
they have been sent to a death camp, and they know their own fate by this time.
These ladies had the courage that not only came from having a certain level of
expertise, but also an unshakeable faith.
This book is actually two stories layered on top of one another. One is a surface story of a family that resists the Nazis. The other is a spiritual story of a family that is obedient to God's teachings. Not since reading To Kill A Mockingbird have I been moved by a story that details the resistance to pure evil. One will come away amazed at both stories.
