The Hiding Place: 3 Lessons on Suffering
“You say we could lose our lives for this child. I would consider that the greatest honor that could come to my family”
Let’s face it. 2020 is a dumpster fire.
Fifty years from now, history books will tell lessons learned from what the world has experienced this year that cannot yet be comprehended. Physical, psychological, social, and economic suffering has spread across the globe in a completely unpredictable manner. And while some have put their hopes in a vaccine, the undeniable reality is a microscopic virus has caused world superpowers, with their stupendous technologies and resources, to shut down.
People have suffered.
In no way do I intend to diminish people’s suffering through this pandemic. And yet, sometimes it is helpful to put current suffering under the perspective of those who have suffered before and see what we might learn.
It is week 38 of 52 in the Tim Challies 2020 reading challenge, and I am playing catch up! This week I chose to read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. This book is simply a must-read. The following are 3 lessons I have taken about suffering from the marvelous and faith-filled Corrie Ten Boom.
1. Suffering: A Mysterious Divine Opportunity
“I know the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do” (31).
The name of the book is twofold. The Hiding Place is what the Ten Boom's called the secret room, located behind Corrie’s closest, where they hid Jews escaping Nazi persecution. But it is also from the KJV translation of Psalm 119:114, “Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.”
It is truly an amazing physical representation of our position in Christ.
Throughout the book, the continual refrain from Corrie and her family is that the unfortunate events surrounding them were divine opportunities to display the truth and love of God.
Consider for yourself, how can you reimagine your current situation as a divine opportunity, given specifically to you, to praise, worship, and surrender to the glory of God?
2. Suffering: A Prestigious Honor
“You say we could lose our lives for this child. I would consider that the greatest honor that could come to my family” (Casper Ten Boom, 115).
The shocking context of the quote above is that Casper spoke those words after their Pastor, their Pastor, refused to take a Jewish child into his home for fear of the consequences.
But for Casper Ten Boom, the greatest honor he, and his family, could have would be to surrender their very lives for this child.
Later, once arrested, a German officer was about to release Casper due to his old age. Instead of gratefully accepting the offer for escape, Casper simply told the officer, “If I go home today, tomorrow I will open my home to anyone who knocks for help.”
Casper Ten Boom demonstrated for his children that their personal physical safety paled in comparison to obeying and living for the glory of God.
But you might object, Casper is defying evil oppression and his suffering is because of his will to stand against that evil being done against others. What evil can be defied from a global virus?
How about the evil of doubting in the sovereignty of God? How about the evil of living in fear of death rather than the fear of God? How about the evil of worrying more about your family’s physical and financial safety than your neighbor who does not know the truth of Jesus Christ or the destitute with nothing? Truly, there is still much prestigious honor to be had in defying the current evil lurking in our present time.
3. Suffering: A Hiding Place in Jesus
“I too had a hiding place when things were bad. Jesus was this place, the Rock cleft for me” (182).
Things got bad for Corrie.
Her progression of events went something like this: quarantine imposed by an occupying force, night raids by the Nazi Gestapo, prison separated from her family, fever and fear of death, naked and humiliated, united with her sister in prison only to learn of their father’s death, forced labor in German concentration camps, the death of her sister Bestie, to suddenly being set free only to live the rest of her days ministering to those who had gone through the same punishment she had and to those who administered that punishment.
How did she do this? Her hiding place was in Jesus Christ.
Janelle came up to me as I was nearing the end of the book, and asked enthusiastically, “Have you gotten to the story about the fleas yet?!?”
I said that I had not but asked her what it was about. But she wouldn’t tell me and said to just keep reading.
When I got to the flea story I was truly amazed. Here Corrie and her sister Betsie were working in a German camp and the building they were in was infested with fleas. As Corrie began to complain about the fleas Betsie softly rebuked her and began thanking God for the fleas, believing they must in some way be there for their benefit.
As I read, I was totally on Corrie’s side. This was outlandish Betsie, I love your faith but sometimes things just suck.
And yet, sure enough, later they found out the reason why the guards did not often visit or bother them in that building.
Yes, the fleas.
How are you trusting in Jesus with your suffering? How are you using your present suffering to enter into Christ with nothing but total surrender in his protection and care?
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John Owen came from Welsh descent, was educated at Queens College, and became a renowned Puritan theologian, Oxford professor, and passionate pastor who lived from 1616 to 1683. In 1647, he wrote the exhaustive treatise The Death of Death defending Limited or Definite Atonement against the Arminian view of Universal Atonement or Unlimited Atonement.