Tonight my wife and I watched The Hiding Place, a movie about the life of Corrie Ten Boom and her family. The movie told the story of the Ten Boom family who hid and cared for Jews trying to escape Nazi persecution in Holland during World War II. This portion of the story showing Christian love for neighbors is inspiring in and of itself. However, I was more awestruck by the second half of the movie which portrays how the Ten Boom family glorified God in their terrible suffering.
In the second half of the movie, we are shown how Corrie and Betsy Ten Boom are arrested and forced to serve in a German concentration/work camp. There, the women were terribly treated; the living conditions were deplorable, food was scarce, disease was rampant, and mistreatment was abundant. Yet in this deplorable estate, these women struggled with,lived out their faith in Jesus Christ, and glorified God. I was struck and admonished by how these women cherished the word of God. But I was even more touched by the way they continued to trust God’s goodness in such horrible conditions.
These women understood something that we, in our immaturity; find hard to understand. They understood that suffering does not equal an absence of God, nor does it negate God’s goodness or omnipotence. Rather, Corrie and Betsy Ten Boom saw their suffering as an opportunity to see God’s provision and his faithfulness.
The height of the movie comes when, in the midst of all the sin and degredation around her; Corrie Ten Boom reads the words of the Apostle Paul who writes to the Roman Christians :
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Lord, you are gracious and full of love, and your loving-kindness does endure forever. You are always faithful toward us, and you always do what is just and right. You are good in all situations, and are always worthy of my trust. Please forgive me for my immaturity and my lack of faith in you. Help me to always remember that if you were willing to give your own Son up for me, how much more will you be willing to hear my prayers and be my strong help in time of need. Thank you Lord, the life I live in the flesh is yours. Help me to live it so as to glorify you.
For a great sermon on this topic, check out Travis Rhymer’s sermon Why?, and David King’s Sermons on Romans Chapter 8. You can find them both here.
Norma Normans Non Normata 