The Hiding Place

by Corrie ten Boom

That was Father’s secret: not that he overlooked the differences in people; that he didn’t know they were there.

Right at the university, he said, seeds were being planted of a contempt for human life such as the world had never seen.

I know that 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.

Some knowledge is too

heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you.”

“Dear Jesus, I thank You that we must come with empty hands. I thank You that You have done all—all—on the cross, and that all we need in life or death is to be sure of this.”

Every meal I cooked was an offering to him, each shining pot a poem, every sweep of the broom an act of love.

Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. “There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.

Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give us the perfect way.”

“But if God has shown us bad times ahead, it’s enough for me that He knows about them. That’s why He sometimes shows us things, you know—to tell us that this too is in His hands.”

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!”

It was as though they were trying us, testing the temper of the country. How many Dutchmen would go along with them?

The rumors tended to get more spectacular with each repetition. But always they featured things we believed were wrong in the sight of God. Stealing, lying, murder. Was this what God wanted in times like these? How should a Christian act when evil was in power?

Love. How did one show it? How could God Himself show truth and love at the same time in a world like this? By dying. The answer stood out for me sharper and chillier than it ever had before that night: the shape of a Cross etched on the history of the world.

Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed, would God’s power alone be free to work.

The Bible lay at home on its shelf, but much of it was stored in his heart.

Lord Jesus, You were called to a hearing too. Show me what to do.

if people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love!

There are no “ifs” in God’s kingdom. I could hear her soft voice saying it. His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will! Don’t let me go mad by poking about outside it.

Whatever bravery or skill I had ever shown were gifts of God—sheer loans from Him of the talent needed to do a job. And it was clear, from the absence of such skills now, that this was no longer His work for 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.