Continuing the dialogue.....
The Hiding Place
The story of the Ten Boom family alternately inspires and intimidates us. We applaud as Betsy insists, “We must teach them that joy runs deeper than despair.” It obviously did—for them. But those were the Ten Booms, people with the nerves of Brett Favre and the faith of Mother Theresa. Surely the same rules, the same expectations don’t hold in the midst of our less dramatic lives.
This argument begins to crumble when we realize that Corrie will not allow us to paint her as a saint. She is uncomfortably honest in sharing her questions (“How should a Christian act when evil [is] in power?”), her doubts (“Why did He choose me for this work?”), her sense of inadequacy (“I simply didn’t feel equipped for this kind of pressure”). She is not made of iron; she is made of stuff startlingly like us.
Yet that is not reason to fear, but to hope, because the strength need not be ours any more than it was Corrie’s. Betsy’s words echo across the decades: “In ourselves, we are not capable of suffering bravely, but the Lord possesses all the strength we lack . . . . “ If we can grasp that truth as we face the unexpected turns of our days, we can walk with a grace and joy that belies our uncertainties.
The strength is not ours; it must not be ours. The responsibility and the glory are His alone. Papa Ten Boom conveys this wisdom as he says, “We must all come to our Father empty-handed, Corrie, for He has done all—all—on the Cross. All we need in life or death is to be sure of this.” All we need, indeed—in life, death, unsatisfying job situations, financial strain, a cancer diagnosis, the black hole of Alzheimer’s. All has been done by “the God even of Ravensbruck.” The God even of Baghdad. The God even of Milwaukee.
All.
And the difference? How will embracing this truth work itself out in our lives? We’ll be freed to walk more consistently in gratitude, giving thanks in all circumstances, not just pleasant circumstances. And our joy will reflect in greater measure life with a purpose, with an awareness of a plan greater than us. We—even we—will be able to rejoice in the reality that “the blacker the night around us [grows], the brighter and truer and more beautiful [burns] the Word of God.”
Love is greater. And standing in that truth, joy does indeed run deeper than despair.
