Corrie ten Boom was an awesome woman of God who traveled around the
world teaching about the love of God and how God had sustained her during
extremely difficult trails and called her to be His “Tramp for the Lord.” She
was born in Harlem, Holland and during the beginning of World War II she and
her family did their best to hide Jews in secret rooms in their home and family
watch store. Eventually, someone informed on them to the Germans and the entire
family, her parents and her sister were sent to concentration camps. Her
parents died quickly but her sister and her were sent to Ravensbuck in Germany,
and had to endure unbearable treatment in filthy, flea infested, unheated
barracks for many years. Corrie watched her sister die there, but God was gracious,
and allowed her to survive.
After the war Corrie felt called of the Lord to travel and tell the
world of how the Lord had sustained her and many others in those brutal
conditions. She told the Lord that she would do anything and go anywhere for
Him but would He please never send her back to Germany. Of course, He did send
her back and she spoke before a large crowd in Munich on the subject of
forgiveness. This is her account of what happened:
“It was
1947. I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God
forgives. And that is when I saw him, working his way forward against the
others…It came back with a rush; the huge room with its harsh overhead lights;
the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor; the shame of
walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me,
ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin.
Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during
the Nazi occupation of Holland; this man had been a guard at Ravensbruck
concentration camp.
Now he was in front of me, hand stuck out: ‘A fine message Fraulein! How
good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the
sea!’ And I, who so glibly had spoken of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook
rather than take his hand.
‘You mentioned Ravensbrook in your talk,’ he was saying. ‘I was a guard
in there.’ No, he did not remember me. ‘But since that time,’ he went on, ‘I
have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I
did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well Fraulein,’ again
the hand came out—‘will you forgive me?’
And I stood there---I whose
sins had every day to be forgiven—and I could not. Betsie had died in that
place—could he erase her slow, terrible death simply for the asking? It could
have not been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me, it
seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I ever had to do. For
I had to do it—I knew that….
And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But
forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the
will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.
Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of
them. Jesus Christ Himself had died for this man; was I going to ask for more?
Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile.
I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest
spark of warmth of charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer.
‘Jesus. I cannot forgive him.
Give me your forgiveness.’
As
I took his hand, mechanically, woodenly, a most incredible thing happened. From
my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me
to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost
overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on
our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to
love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” (The
Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom)
Who do
you need to forgive today. It doesn’t matter that they have not asked for your
forgiveness or that they don’t deserve your forgiveness because, in truth, none
of us deserve the forgiveness of God, but He forgives us anyway, and commands
us to do likewise! Forgive! Ask God to help you and He will!
“You
have heard it said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I
say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who
hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,”
(Matthew 5:43-44)
Pray:
1.
God please bring to my mind all the people I
need to go to and ask for their forgiveness for something I have done or not
done.
2.
Help me to forgive the most horrible people in
my life so that I can be healed of the bitterness and hardness of my heart.
3.
Help me to be like Corrie ten Boom, and seek
your power to forgive, knowing that if I do my part, even if I don’t feel like
it, You will do the rest.
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