Hiding Place

I recently watched the movie called the Hiding Place. I had previously listened to the audio book years ago, but this was even better. It's the story of Corrie Ten Boom. During the World War II, she and her Christian family used their home in Holland to shelter Jews from persecution by the Nazi Germans.

She and her family knew the risk of doing so was very great. But they operated out of love for God and others.

She went through horrific trials, including being thrown into a Nazi prison camp herself. I am very familiar with this, since my own father spent time in one, as a soldier in the US Army. He shared his story with me, which I have recorded in "The Journey of My Father." Fortunately for him and for Corrie, they were eventually set free from prison, but some of Corrie's family died there.

Her sister Betsy died in the prison camp, but Corrie was released shortly afterward. Following her release, she traveled to over 60 nations, bringing the message of Christ's love.

She told people what she had learned in the midst of her hellish trials, saying, “No pit is so deep that He is not deeper still. With Jesus, even in our darkest moments, the best remains and the very best is yet to be.”

Her home in Holland, which she used as a hiding place for Jews, is pictured here. They had false walls built, so that during the surprise inspections from the Nazi gestapo, they could hide the Jews from the soldiers.

In her eighties, after all she had been through, Corrie said, "Some questions remain. But they are not to be feared. Our Heavenly Father holds all things in His hands – even our questions."

Maybe you can relate with Corrie. Perhaps you are in a deep pit right now. Let me encourage you that no pit is so deep that God is not deeper still. Cry out to Jesus, and He will save you. In Him, you will find that the best is yet to come.

Many feel that the persecution of Jews and Christians under the Nazis and communists was just a precursor of what is going to happen in the very last days before Christ returns. If that is so, then we can receive encouragement from what the Ten Boom family went through.

And as Corrie said, we don't need to fear the questions we still have about why God allows such terrible things to happen to people. "Our Heavenly Father holds all things in His hands – even our questions." Our part is to trust Him, to love Him, and obey Him.

Many people ask the question, "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" But what we forget is that bad things happen to God every hour of every day. He sees all the wickedness and evil in the world happening all the time. He sees the way people reject His love, curse His name, and hurt one another. Jesus said that whatever you do to one of the least of these brothers of His, you have done it to Him.

So these bad things happen to God, and yet He is patient. He is willing to forgive. He is not willing for any to perish. The key is that they repent of their sins, and ask God for forgiveness. I have never heard anyone ask the question, "Why do bad things happen to a good God?"

In His great love for the world, God acted by sending His Son to die for our sins, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life. He was crucified in the most cruel way by the Romans, even though He never sinned or hurt anyone. He only went about doing good, healing the sick, and delivering all who were under the power of the devil. Yet today nobody is asking, "Why did such a bad thing happen to God's good Son?"

For the believer, Jesus Christ is our Hiding Place! As the psalmist wrote, "You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance." (Psa 32:7) The one who endured such suffering for us is now our shelter from all danger. He knows what is is to suffer. And He can be trusted to keep you through it all.

Attribution notice: Scripture quotation taken from the NASB.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the other posts in this blog available through the Home page for this blog, and you can also find my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.