All Saint’s Day: Corrie Ten Boom

“The Hiding Place” – Corrie Ten Boom

We have had a tradition of teaching about the life of a saint in Christian history for “All Saints Day” for a very long time, almost from our inception.  We broke that tradition during the Rona because it is weighty to learn about a person enough to write about them in addition to normal church-leading work and to do so in a way that is faithful to the person’s life and concise. Doing these sermons is a weighty joy.

These biographies have been fruitful for us as a church.

My ends in these biography sermons are threefold: 1. That God’s word would come alive as we see its work in the lives of folks who came before us. 2. That your faith would be strengthened, and you would live by faith. 3. That you would read further about the person we introduce you to and seek out other biographies of Christians on your own to feed the first two ends.

Today, we will take a brief look at the life of Corrie Ten Boom.

Let’s stand and read three pivotal Scriptures that Casper Ten Boom shared over the years with his family. These scriptures would serve Corrie well in the darkest of times.

Psalm 32:7 (CSB) 7 You are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance.

Psalm 119:105 (CSB) 105 Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.

Psalm 119:114 (ESV) 114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.

It is easy to read such Psalms and just allow them to flow through our hearing with no curiosity as to “how the Lord is a hiding place” and to seek no application of the text.

There are multiple reasons for that. Perhaps one of them is that we lack sufficient suffering to make us wrestle to make sense of the truth that the Lord is a hiding place, and that it is perfectly fine to run to him to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves.

Suffering makes us dig deep into God’s Word and grapple with the Lord. Only in grappling with the Lord in faith like Jacob did, like Corrie did, do we come away with a rich and real knowledge of God beyond the intellect.

Knowing the Lord as a hiding place can only be understood when you have the need to hide, and your actions are simply not enough to deliver you.  

This kind of knowing God as a hiding place leaves us, like Jacob, with a limp we will carry for the rest of our lives and will affirm our faith, resulting in glory and praise to Jesus. Here is how Peter says it: 1 Peter 1:6-7 (CSB) 6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith — more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

I know those words will likely land on some as nonsense, some as anxiousness because you might see this experience for you up ahead, and some as not possible because things are just so good that you can’t imagine them getting sideways.

I want everyone to simply add this to their discipleship tool belt so that they are ready in any season the good and kind Father determines is necessary for your faith and his glory.

Know that sometimes he will show you he is your hiding place as a kind grace in the most unkind way. And this most unkind way the Lord employs is necessary for us to learn to run to him and find him the hiding place. Otherwise, we would not run to him.

Cornelia Arnolda Johanna Ten Boom

Born: April 15, 1893

Died: April 15, 1983

Corrie passed on to be with the Lord and await our great resurrection day on her 91^st birthday.

Corrie was born to Casper and Cornelia Ten Boom in Harlem, Netherlands.

Corrie was raised in the home that also served as the family business: Ten Boom Watches. They referred to their home/shop as the Beje (Bay-ya). Beje is short for “Barteljorisstraat” which is the street in Harlem where their house/shop was located.

Corrie was the youngest of four children.

CTB’s siblings

Betsie ten Boom (1885–1944): Betsie is the eldest sister and closest to Corrie.

Betsie would be Corrie’s greatest influence for future ministry during their imprisonment in the Netherlands and later in Ravensbrück, the Nazi concentration camp that eventually held them captive.

Betsie was unshakable in her compassion for their occupiers and captors. Betsie’s faith was unshakable. Her trust in the Lord’s providential good for his people in hard circumstances is supernatural. Betsie would say, “There are no ifs in God’s world,” when Corrie would think of what could have happened or lament a decision she or someone else made that seemed to not work out at the moment.

Betsie’s exact words: “There are no ifs in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety – Oh Corrie, let us pray that we may always know it!” THP, p. 84.

Truthfully, Betsie is the Samwise Gamgee of this story. The real hero. If you know you know.

Betsie was a rock of hope and faith.

Frankly, I identified with Corrie’s anger and frustration and found myself angry at Betsie for not wanting to shank some people along the way. Betsie felt deep compassion for people who were held captive by their hatred for Jews and their mistreatment of those who sought to help the Jews.

Betsie wanted people to find freedom from such evil in Christ and experience God’s love. Betsie wanted to pray for them.

I would be frustrated with Betsie and then find myself wanting to imitate her faith.

Betsie suffered from respiratory problems stemming from sickness as a child that affected her weight and resiliency.

Betsy’s sickness likely led to her never marrying because they believed her sickness also made it impossible for her to have children.

Willem ten Boom (1886–1946): Willem is Corrie’s older brother. Willem was a Dutch Reformed minister and became involved in the Dutch Reformed Church’s efforts to protect Jewish people during World War II.

Willem had long been an advocate for the Jewish community because he studied in Germany and saw the coming Nazi ideology infecting even their theological systems. As a Christian, he appropriately had a deep respect for Jewish folks even if they didn’t become Christians and follow the Messiah, Jesus.

Willem would lead and operate a home for the elderly as well as become part of the Dutch underground who would house and hide Jewish folks as part of his work with the Dutch underground.

Nollie Ten Boom Van Woerden (1890–1953): Corrie’s older sister, Nollie, also played a role in helping Jews during the war despite the risks to her own family.

Nollie’s theological bent toward painful truth-telling would lead to conflicts in Corrie’s heart and sometimes conflict on how to resist the German occupation of Holland at the time.

***Nollie and Flip’s children were taught to always tell the truth (as Corrie and we would agree should be done), as Casper and Momma Cornelia taught them, and they would rightly point to the text of Scripture as to why they should never tell anything that was not true. This was a conflict because that truth-telling would conflict with Corrie’s efforts to misdirect the Nazis by not telling them the truth.

They had two different strategies.

Nollie and her children’s practice of this full-blown truth-telling would sometimes put people in danger, and yet the Lord would bless the truth-telling by keeping German soldiers at bay.

One example is while Germans would come and conscript young Dutch men for work in factories making munitions, the Ten Booms would hide their young men at the Beje (the Ten Boom home). They had a trap door under their dining room table for such purposes.

On one occasion, they got word soldiers were coming to look for young men to take to the factory, and they put a young man and a nephew in the space under the table, returned the table, tablecloth, and table items, and tried to act normal.

As the Germans searched and asked where the men were, one of Nollie’s daughters while being pressed by the officer spilled the beans and said the boys were under the table. The German officer lifted the tablecloth to look, and there was no one. As the daughter began to laugh at his confused look, the officer got angry at being laughed at and ordered his men to leave.

She told the truth, but not the whole truth, which is not the truth. But she thought what she told was enough to be the truth. It’s complicated.

Shrewd as a serpent and innocent as a dove.***

I have organized Corrie’s story into seven large categorical headings we’ll explore this morning. Here we go!

Disciplines of the faith now produce fruit in hard times later.

Corrie’s parents, Casper and Cornelia, were Dutch Reformed Christians. They raised their family in the church and at home to follow Jesus and to love God’s word.

The family business, Ten Boom Watches, celebrated its 100^th birthday in January 1937. Casper’s father started the watch sales and repair business in January 1837. Casper carried the business on faithfully until his arrest by the Gestapo in February 1944. Casper was an expert watchmaker and repairman for more than 60 years.

Casper was known as “Harlem’s Grand Old Man”. He was faithful. Casper was a staple of integrity and stability. They often had customers and guests by the shop just to see Casper.

Part of the routine of home life and the business that Casper established and practiced in every circumstance was that all family and employees would come to work and head upstairs to the kitchen for coffee and Bible reading before work at the same time every day, and the family would end the day with Bible reading.

This was the rhythm of the home and the business, and the year-round saturation of Bible reading would prove fruitful.

Another good discipline that was practiced by Casper as a daddy was when he would ride the train to Amsterdam to get the exact time at the Naval Observatory to keep their watches and clocks right on point, and Corrie would ride with him.

Casper’s special times with Corrie riding the train to Amsterdam would provide theologically rich foundations in the discipline of applied wisdom from Biblical truth that would produce fruit for Corrie at just the right times.  

Corrie would ask her hard questions, and Casper always had a wise answer that helped his little girl grow in her understanding and develop how she understood the Lord Jesus, and this wise application of God’s truths developed a robust Christian worldview for Corrie, as well as his other children.

One example is at the age of 10, there was a situation where a child had died, and Corrie went with Cornelia and Betsie to visit the family. Corrie saw the body of the baby at the wake, and Corrie realized if a child could die, then Casper and Cornelia would one day die, which caused great hurt in her heart at the thought of losing her parents.

We all probably remember that moment when we realized our parents were mortal, and it’s quite a hard hit. Corrie needed some of Casper’s comfort, so as he tucked them into bed, she asked him about death and her fear of losing him and Momma.

To apply some Biblical wisdom, Casper asked Corrie a question about their train tickets when they would go to Amsterdam. He asked her when she received from him her train ticket. She replied that he always gave her the ticket right before they boarded the train.

Casper affirmed Corrie’s answer. He told her likewise the Father would carry and hold what she needed until she needed it. Then, he would supply what she needed right when she needed it. Right on time, and not before. Therefore, there was no reason to worry.

How wise! The Bible reading and the wise application from a good daddy who was reading and applying God’s word would prove fruitful for Corrie as they suffered under Nazi occupation and imprisonment.

Compassion for those in need.

Corrie had deep compassion for people who were in need. Corrie was wired with deep compassion. Now, that compassion for the Germans would be wounded due to what they would experience, but the Lord would heal that hurt at just the right time so Corrie’s gift from the Lord would be able to be applied at just the right time. Just like Casper taught her.

Particularly, Corrie’s faith in the Lord led her to start clubs for kids to learn how to read using the Bible as well as teach social lessons rooted in a Christian worldview.

Corrie would also start clubs for children with special needs.

After Cornelia passed away and Cornelia’s sisters who lived with them passed, the much more empty Ten Boom home would become a foster home that cared for a bevy of young folks that would be housed, fed, discipled, educated, and then launched to life having been cared for by the Ten Boom family in the Ten Boom home. Corrie played a key role in that work, and it was motivated and initiated by Casper and carried out by Corrie and Betsie leading the way.  

A reminder of God’s goodness even in suffering.

The Lord gave moments of good gifts that reminded Corrie the Lord knew how to give them just what they needed when they needed it.

One example is after Momma Cornelia had a brain aneurysm and recovered. After the aneurysm and recovery, she was only able to speak a few words.

At Nollie’s wedding, one of the songs they would sing was “Fairest Lord Jesus”. When they stood to sing that song in worship, Nollie and Corrie sat with their mom in between them and helped her to stand for the singing so that she could participate as much as possible. When they stood to sing, Cornelia burst out in song along with everyone else.

They were awe-struck but dared not redirect their attention to Cornelia for fear of losing the moment. They just enjoyed hearing her sing when she had not been able to say more than a few words for months. Cornelia was able to sing the whole song, and they all marveled at that precious gift from the Lord when she was not able to speak.

The Lord showed favor and strengthened their faith in a hard situation.

We will sing that song as part of our response of worship in a few minutes.

Cornelia would pass a few weeks later, and that gift reminded them of the grace of the Lord even in the midst of suffering, and that the Lord supplies good things just when they need them.

God’s providence in a common cold reveals vocational design to prepare for the future.

Betsie and Corrie had understood they would likely never marry, so they were content to live at home and maintain the home and community work Corrie had started, and work in the watch business. Betsie majored in the watch shop, and Corrie cared for the house and served those in need.

Betsie got sick with a nasty lung sickness, so Corrie took up Betsie’s job of working in the watch shop, and Betsie was sent to bed to rest.

Various lung issues were common to the population at that time, and they really made folks sick, so they took rest and recuperation seriously. Betsie being already sickly required extra caution.

Corrie knew her father, as he got older, to be more in love with the work of building and repairing watches than running the business. He could not remember if he took payment or what he charged, and Betsie was not much better, but Betsie was his helper. The business had not been profitable for a long time.

Corrie, taking this temporary work seriously, purchased a ledger and started writing things down, learning the work, and invoicing customers. Corrie found that not only did she like the work, but she was good at it.

One day Corrie went up to check on Betsie, like she normally did, and for some reason, this time noticed evidence of Betsie not resting according to the plan. Corrie noticed someone had been sanding old doors, rearranging cupboards, and re-organizing the kitchen. Betsie had been covering her tracks and on this occasion got caught.

Corrie confronted Betsie, and after some attempts to side-step Corrie’s inquisition, Betsie admitted to not resting like she should but loving the work of their home so much she couldn’t stay in bed. To justify not resting, Betsie lovingly accused Corrie of “just arranging things in any old way”. The house was clean, but it was not organized or maximized the way Betsie could do it.

Betsie’s sickness put each of them in places they didn’t ask for, but that sickness revealed desires and gifts they both possessed and didn’t know.

Betsie’s sickness led to a profitable business and a hospitable home.

These two things would lead to Corrie’s storefront underground Dutch resistance work and a home that was made insanely robust in food and efficiency by Betsie in the middle of Nazi occupation.

Had it been the other way around, the skilled clandestine operator would have been cooking subpar meals for Casper and Betsie with poorly arranged order, and Betsie would have been struggling along in an unprofitable business as their elderly father just tinkered with watches.

This shift in responsibility because of a virus led to their family saving countless lives, an international gospel work, the revealing of Betsie’s brave faith that would influence Corrie, and us even knowing who they are so we could learn from their lives.

Oh, the good providence of God to send a virus to display how he gifted two people for an amazing work.

Invasion, resistance, and arrest.

WW2 had broken out, and the Ten Boom family would gather in the evenings for Bible reading and then listen to concerts and news on their radio.

Willem and Nollie were married and had long since been raising their families, and the Beje housed Casper, Betsie, and Corrie.

On the night of May 10, the Prime Minister was to give an address about the state of the war and Holland’s status regarding the war. The girls were encouraged that the Prime Minister pledged there would be no war with Germany as Holland would seek neutrality as they had done in WW1. Casper was not encouraged.

Casper had been listening to his son Willem. Casper had met the Jews Willem was already hosting who were fleeing Germany. He understood what was coming. Casper stood up in anger, turned off the radio, and lamented that the Prime Minister was giving false hope.

Five hours after that address by the Prime Minister, Germany began to bomb Holland.

So, on May 10, 1940, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands, beginning a five-year occupation.

The Dutch monarchy fled to Britain, and the war was on.

Betsie and Corrie were awakened that evening by the bombing, and they gathered in the hall to pray. Betsie already had a compassion for the German pilots caught up in the war and prayed for them. Corrie could not find it in her heart to pray for those who were bombing them.

Already we see glimpses of Betsie’s brave faith and Corrie’s sense of justice that would play out in the coming years.

That night Corrie had a vision. She had never experienced anything like that. She saw the town market and an old and odd farm wagon pulled by four large black horses. She saw herself, Casper, Betsie, and others she knew in the wagon. They could not get off the wagon. It was taking them away, and they did not want to go. Corrie understood that whatever it was it was unpleasant.

Betsie listened and spoke profoundly: If God has shown them bad times ahead. It’s enough. If he had shown them hard times, it’s to remind them that he knows and has their future in his hands, and he will direct them and their end.

The occupation was difficult, and the Ten Booms began to learn how to resist as best they could and continue to thrive as best as they could.

The difficulty really began as the antisemitism increased over time. It began with minor things and increased over time until there was systemic and active work to persecute the Jewish people and then eliminate them.

Casper, Betsie, and Corrie talked frequently about how they might be able to help.

Willem was already helping by housing Jews and was trying to find locations for others. He was participating in the Dutch underground.

Casper, Corrie, and Betsie’s first opportunity to get involved came when an across-the-street Jewish business owner was raided and kicked out of his home and business. The Ten Booms welcomed Mr. Weil into their home.

Mr. Weil’s wife happened to not be there because she was visiting family in Amsterdam. The Ten Booms were trying to figure out how to communicate with her not to come home. The phones had been disconnected by the Germans to limit communications, so they had to think of options.

Betsie and Casper both came to the same conclusion: Willem’s nursing home in the country.

So, Corrie agreed to take the train to Willem’s place to find out if Willem could take Mr. Weil. When Corrie arrived, Willem was not there because of his coordination work with the underground. Willem’s 22-year-old son, Kick was home, and he agreed to come to Harlem to escort Mr. Weil back under the cover of darkness.

Kick showed up at that night ready to escort Mr. Weil and took him and his few clothes and disappeared into the night. It would be nearly two weeks before they learned of his safe passage, but never was able to learn what happened to him or his wife after Mr. Weil left the Beje.

Corrie would ask about their well-being, but Kick told her that if she was going to work with the underground, she would have to learn to not ask questions. And just like that, Corrie was in with the Dutch underground resistance.

She knew the underground existed, but also knew they participated in things she had been taught that God said was wrong: stealing, lying, and murder.

Was this what God wanted in times like this? Corrie had to wrestle with how a Christian should act when evil was in power. What did God want from his people?

Corrie got involved, and her involvement increased until they were housing, transporting, and hiding Jews from being taken to concentration camps and Dutch young men from being conscripted to work in munitions factories.

Corrie was a good clandestine operator, and through her work became a central leader, and saved uncountable lives.

On February 28, 1944, the ten Boom family was betrayed by a Dutch informant named Jan Vogel. The Gestapo raided the Beje, arresting over 30 people, including the ten Boom family members present as well as other associates.

Although the hidden Jews were not discovered thanks to “the hiding place”, the ten Boom family was taken into custody. The Jews in the hiding place were successfully snuck out of the Beje by the resistance a few days later.

Casper, then 84, refused to promise cooperation with the Nazis to be sent home because of his age. Casper told them he would open his door to anyone in need regardless of the consequences.

He died ten days later in prison and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Corrie and Betsie were imprisoned in Scheveningen, the Dutch prison at the Hague, before being transferred to Vught, a Dutch concentration camp, and then eventually to Ravensbrück, a notorious women’s concentration camp in Germany, northeast of Berlin.

Conditions in Ravensbrück were harsh, with overcrowding, forced labor, abuse, awful unsanitary living conditions, and inadequate food.

Despite the unimaginable suffering, Betsie and Corrie managed to get a smuggled New Testament into the camp, and they held clandestine worship services with the other prisoners, told the good news to those who needed to know, and helped women believe the good news.

The fleas: A precious gift.

When they moved into their horrible living conditions at Ravensbrück, they quickly discovered their sleeping platforms had rancid straw for padding and was also infested with fleas.

“How can humans live in such circumstances?” was Betsie’s first and gut-level request from the Lord.

Betsie prayed out loud for the Lord to show them how to live in such conditions, but with a joyous faith that was otherworldly despite how sick she was.

Betsie soon called out excitedly that the Lord had answered her prayer.

She recalled a particular passage Corrie had read from the New Testament in 1 Thessalonians.

They had just completed their third reading of the New Testament together and with other prisoners.

They would gather the whole barracks that wanted to participate under a dim light and read the Bible, pray, sing, and teach.

So, Corrie re-read the passage Betsie said was the answer to her request of the Lord about how they were to live in such horrible conditions. Here is the Scripture Betsie said was the answer:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV) 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Betsie told her that was it! Give thanks in all circumstances.

Of course, Corrie protested. Give thanks for what? Rejoice in what? I mean, they would beat Betsie because of her weakness, and she would take it with a joyous smile. Corrie wanted to retaliate, and Betsie would stop her.

Betsie said that they could give thanks for being together, having a Bible, and even give thanks for the fleas since God said to give thanks in all circumstances.

Corrie relented, and with Betsie rejoiced for and gave thanks for the fleas also.

After some time, they began to wonder how they were able to gather nightly without interruption. They had an immense amount of freedom in that Barracks. They were never bothered by the guards like other Barracks were bothered.

Why?

Later after much suffering and hardship, something was going on in the camp that required the guards to get people out of the barracks for another marathon of standing at attention for punishment between shifts at the Philipps factory or from digging, but the guards would not come in to rush their barracks out. As they wondered why the guards were not coming in to rush them out, it dawned on them why the guards wouldn’t come in and why they were left alone to their worship services.

The fleas!!!

The infestation of the fleas kept the guards out. So, they were able to minister to the women in that barracks freely without hindrance and see the Lord do miraculous work because of the dadgum fleas!

Betsie’s visions and death.

Betsie was very sick, and her fever was always raging. Only one time did it get to the required 104 degrees for her to go to the hospital.

I’m convinced the only way Betsie made it to the point she did was because the Lord had a mission for her.

The Lord gave visions to Betsie for their work after the war.

I believe the only way Corrie could receive these visions of work is to receive them from Betsie.

If anyone else had tried to tell Corrie of the need to help the Germans after the war, Corrie would not have listened. Because of Betsie’s example of compassion for her tormentors, Corrie knew there was substance in those visions.

Jesus sustained Betsie for Corrie’s sake.

During her feverish sickness, Betsie had clear visions of what was to come. Corrie thought they were just the results of her fever, but they were more. Perhaps the Lord used the fever to give them, maybe not. Either way, they were from the Lord.

First, Betsie had a clear vision of their freedom by the end of 1944.

Betsie died in Ravensbrück December 16, 1944. Hang on. Don’t judge what she saw just yet.

Later in December 1944, Corrie was unexpectedly released from Ravensbrück, due to what some say was later discovered to be a clerical error.

That information comes from accounts outside of Corrie’s account in “The Hiding Place.” https://www.cccu.org/magazine/developing-resilience/#:~:text=Betsie%20died%20on%20Dec.,her%20age%20group%20were%20gassed.

A week after Corrie’s release, all the women in her age group were sent to the gas chambers.

It took a few days for them to release Corrie. They required those being released to sign documents saying they had been treated well and to make that look true, they made Corrie stay in the “hospital” until the swelling in her legs reduced.

She was given train tickets, and some bread, and sent on her way to travel back to Harlem, which she did.

Corrie saw her release as a fulfillment of Betsie’s vision and Corrie believed Betsie’s death to be a gracious release to freedom from the suffering she endured.

Corrie was not convinced Betsie would have survived to get home, and her death was a gracious release from her suffering. She had served the Lord graciously, faithfully, honorably, and fully.

So, the Lord released her in death from being separated from Corrie and executed because it’s unlikely she would have been released with Corrie and would have been gassed like the other women of their barracks.

The Lord graciously released both Corrie and Betsie.

“Judge not the Lord by feeble sense but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.” – William Cowper

Second, Betsie had a vision of a home that Corrie would operate for the healing of people who had been in concentration camps after the war.

Betsie had a clear vision of a place of healing and restoration where people could recover physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Betsie saw in her visions how the house would be decorated. I mean she saw even the wood grain in the floors. She saw clearly what was supposed to happen and where it would happen.

When Corrie got home, the war was still going on, and the resistance was still operating. She returned to life alone in the Beje, and she enjoyed visiting Nollie, Willem, and her nieces and nephews.  

She had the opportunity to get back into the work of the resistance. She couldn’t do it with the nerves of steel she had before being arrested. She took an opportunity to attempt to take that work back u, and she had lost her edge. Understandably so. That’s not a criticism. She knew it. She got through that one operation and decided there were other ways for her to serve the Lord’s ends, but it would not be with the Dutch resistance.

She determined she was supposed to speak of what had happened and what God had given her to do in sharing the good news of Jesus, forgiveness, and restoration according to Betsie’s visions.

She would speak to churches and groups where opportunity was given. After one such opportunity, Bierens De Haan, an aristocratic lady approached her and told her she was a widow, her sons were off fighting in the war, and didn’t have use for their estate like they did in the past. She wondered if Corrie could use it for the work she had been sharing about in her speaking.

Mrs. De Haan was not unfamiliar with Corrie and her family. One of Corrie’s aunts (Tante Jans) had a ministry of calling people to righteousness and following the Lord Jesus through publishing tracts and hosting donors to help with the work. Mrs. De Haan had supported Tante Jans’ work, and even attended some meetings at the Beje. So, she knew who Corrie was, she knew Corrie’s family.

What a providential connection! Little did Corrie know when they navigated the complicated relationships with the Aunts at the Beje that one of Tante Jan’s supporters who would already have a positive view of her family would be the one who would supply the house that would be the place Corrie would use to help people heal and meet Jesus, and it would be this place that the Lord would give Betsie visions about.

Let all those providences cascade on you in awe of the Lord’s detailed orchestration of events.

So, Corrie went to visit the estate.

Guess what? It was exactly the place Betsie described down to every detail including the grain of the wood on the floors.

Betsie’s vision came to fruition when Corrie opened a rehabilitation center at the De Haan estate.

Finally, Bestie had visions of reaching out to the German people and using a former concentration camp to be a place of service to those recovering from the devastation of the war.

Betsie saw explicitly that a former concentration camp would be donated and what it would look like down to green paint and window boxes for flowers.

Corrie was invited to speak to groups of people all over post-war Germany. Many of these people were living in bombed-out facilities.

Corrie would go speak, and she chose to live in those bombed-out locations with the people she was speaking to.

Guess what happened?

Government officials heard about Corrie speaking and had heard of her work in Holland. So, they approached her and asked if she could do that work in Germany. Upon her agreement, they released to her Darmstadt, and they would help her renovate it for the work.

Guess what? They would paint it green and put window boxes in.

Betsie believed God called them to show His love and mercy even to those who had been their enemies.

After the war, Corrie followed through with this by ministering to the Dutch, the Germans, and former Nazi guards just like the Lord showed Betsie.

Corrie’s expanded work.

After the war, Corrie returned to the Netherlands and discovered that the Beje had become a refuge for those traumatized by the war, particularly former NSB folks.  

Corrie eventually turned her family home into a place of healing for those who had collaborated with the Nazis.

Corrie worked to establish rehabilitation centers for victims of the war.

In 1971, Corrie published The Hiding Place, which recounted her family’s wartime efforts and their faith throughout the trials of the Holocaust. The book became a bestseller and was later adapted into a successful film in 1975.

Corrie became an internationally renowned speaker, traveling the world to preach the good news of Jesus’ forgiveness and reconciling work to save sinners, and that those who come to Jesus can be also healed toward one another.

Corrie preached this, she lived it, and she helped others experience healing toward one another.

Corrie Ten Boom continued her ministry the rest of her life. Corrie moved to the United States in the 1970s. She lived her final years in California, where she passed away on April 15, 1983—her 91st birthday.

Application

Sow the disciplines of the faith today for a harvest of righteousness in due time.

Few disciplined habits produce instant gratification.

The disciplines of the faith require seasons of sowing to produce a harvest.

A pear tree takes 4-6 years to begin bearing fruit.

Don’t stop sowing the disciplines of the faith.

Give thanks for the fleas.

We all have our own “fleas”.

What is that thing or those things that you hate and annoy you and create discomfort and cause you to alter your behavior to avoid, and you still can’t seem to avoid?

Perhaps those “fleas” have been sent by the Lord in his good grace to move you, to humble you, to make you look beyond yourself, and teach you to trust Him.

If the Lord is sovereign, there is nothing out of place or time, then for those in Christ those “fleas” are ordained to serve your ultimate good.

We can take shelter in the providences of the Lord; He is our hiding place.

According to Betsie, there are no “ifs” in God’s world.

Don’t live in the devastation of the “ifs”. We are not at the mercy of “ifs”. When we live by faith, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, we can rest in the good navigation of the Lord for his glory and our good and joy.

Providence is the truth that the Lord Jesus has seen all our need beforehand in a moment in eternity past and has thus ordained the supply or lack of supply rooted in his good and holy purposes for us. He then paid for all that good by his own blood at the cross and secured it’s reality by his resurrection for us and our supply.

The providences of God are designed to work to the benefit of his people. They do not work for the benefit of those who are not his people. In fact, they are working against those who will not turn from the dark kingdom to Jesus.

Therefore, repent today and believe.

There may come a time for us to be shrewd before men and innocent before God.

Matthew 10:16 (CSB) 16 “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.

We never know when in God’s economy hard times may come to us, and we will be faced with hard decisions.

He has provided instruction for us in such situations.

The Lord’s instruction is not justification for living like a scoundrel under normal living circumstances and blaming it on God.

The Lord’s instruction and examples given in Scripture are for his people who are seeking to restrain evil and preserve as much human flourishing as one can in the direst of circumstances while on mission in our domains in the public square.

If we must lie, redirect, wage just war, or get arrested for breaking bad laws to rescue humans from destruction or defend humans from being over ran or destroyed, then we do it knowing the Lord rewards the work of his people who strive to preserve human life and flourishing.

We might not be able to stop all evil now, but we can do our part to slow evil’s advance by engaging with a Christian ethic and trusting God to make it fruitful.

We are certainly not in occupied Holland, and we are certainly not threatened overtly at this point with a uniformed invading force.

However, we are faced with the potential of a progressive and dark ideology that wants to drive an evil agenda.

One way to hate your neighbor is to let the darkness have a free run at destroying human flourishing with no resistance.

I’ve been concerned with what looks like some functional Gnosticism creeping into the practice of fellow evangelicals. One way we do that is we load up on knowledge and are light on action.

Another way we do this is that we are heavy on spiritual disciplines and light on action in the public square.

Gnosticism blurs the line between the physical and the nonphysical. Knowledge and application.

Some are flirting with this Gnostic tendency by insisting they have no obligation to engage in the civic duty of voting if our exact desires are not reflected in a candidate. They prefer to abstain from the action of civic duty in favor of other “spiritual” activity perhaps or belief God will bless their inaction in some way.

According to George Barna, there are 41 million Christians that identify as “born again” who will not vote in this election. https://outreachmagazine.com/resources/82235-study-a-surprising-number-of-christians-say-they-arent-voting.html

The implications of a progressive and godless ideology winning because we refused to engage and vote for a better candidate than the other who espouses overt evil are huge.

We don’t have to agree with every policy position of a candidate to cast a vote. We do need to take note of which candidate will provide a policy framework for the most human flourishing, and then get after it.

Ten Boom and Wilberforce took the spiritual action of prayer into the practice of resistance in all applicable ways to their situation. They didn’t choose to “sit this one out” hoping God would bless their inaction.

That is precisely why our civic engagement is vital now.

God in his providence takes the sowing of our best actions that align most with the values of his kingdom and produces the fruit of human flourishing.

Worship Jesus for how he runs history when we don’t understand fully how he runs history.

Corrie’s story is full of paradoxical nuances.

God’s word is full of paradoxes. Life is full of us having to navigate those paradoxes by the examples by his word and those who have gone before us in example.

How could the Lord work through Corrie to save life and providentially send her the police chief who was seeking a way to kill a rat in the police department and at the same time sending Bonhoeffer to be part of Operation Valkyrie to assassinate Hitler? The Lord gave one a task to save life and he gave others the task to take life all in the same work to restrain evil and unleash good.

How do we reconcile all of that? They seem so contradictory. We have a hard time seeing how the Lord weaves all that together for good.

We find ourselves with Paul at the end of Romans 11 and his explanation of Israel and Gentiles. Together they are one people. And God intends to keep his word to Israel as elect when he brings in a complete number of elect Gentiles. God’s kingdom economy makes perfect sense with a view of the multidimensional nature of eternity with no sin. And we don’t have those eyes yet to see all of that. Our eyes have been blurred by sin, so we see dimly, at best a 2–3-dimensional view of eternal realities.

So, we are to know what we can know, acknowledge our part, be faithful with our part, and we come humbly to bow down and worship.