God Has a Plan

“This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.” – Corrie Ten Boom.

The Hiding Place was written by Corrie Ten Boom with the help of John and Elizabeth Sherill. It is about the life of Corrie herself. More than just being about Corrie’s life, it is about her family, their house, the people they helped, and (most importantly) the lessons God taught Corrie through these experiences. What were these lessons Corrie learned? What was God teaching her through the trials she endured? What can we learn from Corrie’s life? How can we apply these lessons to our own lives and for our future?

For those of you who don’t know the basic premise of The Hiding Place, I’ll give a brief overview of the story. Corrie was born in the Netherlands in 1892 and grew up in a Christian home. She was still living at home with her father (Casper Ten Boom) and sister (Betsy Ten Boom) when Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940 during World War II. Though Corrie started by just sneaking ration cards to Jews, it quickly turned into creating a hiding place for them. Corrie’s family helped a considerable number of Jews but were eventually caught and sent to prison and later a concentration camp. Through these experiences Corrie had to continually lean on God for help and The Hiding Place recalls the lessons she learned.

The Hiding Place

From that brief overview of the story, you can most likely guess where the book got its name. When the war started, the Ten Booms made a secret room behind a wall where those seeking protection could hide if soldiers came to search. This room was small, but it was a safe place where the Jews could hide from the persecution they were experiencing outside. Just like that room was a hiding place for the Jews, God is a hiding place for us. Psalm 119:114 says, “You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.” This does not mean if you are a Christian nothing bad will ever happen to you. It means you are safe and secure in God and His plan. Everything that happens to you is His plan and His plan is perfect.

Our first thought when we are experiencing trials should be of God. We should find comfort in Him even when the world around us is falling apart. You shouldn’t only go to God when you are experiencing hardships but those are the times your faith in Him is tested. In those times you also see just how much you need God and just how much He helps you through everything. He is our hiding place where we find safety just as those Jews found safety in that little room in the Ten Boom house.

Matthew 28:20b, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Give Thanks in all Circumstances

"Give thanks in all circumstances,’ It doesn’t say, ‘in pleasant circumstances.’ Fleas are part of the place where God has put us.” - Betsy Ten Boom

While at the concentration camp, Corrie and Betsy experienced many terrible things. When they arrived in the room they would sleep in, the first thing they noticed were the fleas living on everything. Through their time in the concentration camp Corrie and Betsy prayed to God and tried their best to thank Him for the things they still had. One time Corrie and Betsy read 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” After reading that verse, Betsy thanked God for the fleas. Corrie thought this was too far but tried her best to still be thankful. Later on, Corrie discovered that the fleas in their housing were keeping the guards from coming in. This allowed Corrie and Betsy to hold Bible studies and prayer groups without getting in trouble with the guards. God used the awfulness of living in those conditions to bring about great opportunity to share the gospel. We may not always understand the reason for things happening, but we can know that once again it is a part of God’s plan.

We are people who like to complain. We complain when we are bored and when we are too busy. We complain when it’s too rainy and when we don’t get enough rain. We can find a way to complain about almost everything. However, instead of complaining we should be thanking God for everything, even those things we like to complain about. This concept is so far from what we are used to that it seems incredibly strange and unreasonable. In all our complaining we forget that God uses every experience and every circumstance He puts us in. This will not always make sense to us, and we can find ourselves doubting God in our struggles. Everything we go through God has control over, and we should thank Him through it all.

Colossians 3:17. “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Lean On the Father

"Some knowledge is too heavy… you cannot bear it… your father will carry it until you are able.” - Casper Ten Boom

When Corrie was a child, she was very curious about everything, but some things she was too young to know and understand. One such time her father told her she didn’t need to know everything. She could trust her father to hold that knowledge and tell her when she was ready to know. Later on in life, Corrie thought on these words a lot. She applied them to her faith and her heavenly father. She trusted God to hold the knowledge of his plan and reveal it to her when she was ready to know.

Sometimes we can’t know God’s plan. God reveals to us what we need to know and the rest we have to trust God to take care of. Putting your trust in God’s plan is something that everyone struggles with in one way or another, but it is something that is really important. God sees everything and knows everything while we only see through our limited perspective. God’s plan is best and when I trust in that I know I am safe in his hands.

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

My Faith is My Own

"Dear Jesus…how foolish of me to have called for human help when You are here.” - Corrie Ten Boom

Corrie grew up in a Christian home to parents who were very active in the community. They often helped families who had little to nothing. They hosted prayer meetings, and they encouraged everyone who worked in their watch shop to join them for their daily Bible readings. Through Corrie’s experiences she was really challenged to take her faith as her own and not just as a part of her family. She was challenged to have a personal relationship with God, not just a relationship through her family. She needed to go to God first and lean on Him, not just her family.

Sometimes for those who grew up in a Christian home with Christian parents we find it challenging to really take our faith as our own. We follow our parents’ faith and go to them with our spiritual problems when we should go first to God. It isn’t until we have personal struggles that our family can’t help us with that we really start to have a personal relationship with God.

1 Corinthians 2:5, “That your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Lessons to Live By

Today I know that memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. 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.” - Corrie Ten Boom

Through her trials, Corrie learned some valuable lessons. Through everything she experienced she learned to trust in God’s plan, to give thanks for even the bad stuff, to take her faith as her own, and to find her safety and comfort in God. Her story is truly inspiring. Through her story and the lessons she learned we should be reminded of how much we are loved by God and that everything we go through is part of His plan.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

*All quotes are taken from The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom and verses taken from the ESV Bible.

A blog post by Lindsay Brunt

October 7, 2022.