Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

• Mark 13:11

“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

• Luke 12:11-12

The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”
Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

• Acts 13:4-12

“As the weeks slipped by, I found more and more resistance to my ministry. No one was interested in a middle-aged spinster woman from Holland who wanted to preach. ‘Why did you come to America?’ people began to ask.
“ ‘God directed me. All I could do was obey.’
“ ‘That’s nonsense,’ they answered. ‘There is no such thing as direct guidance from God. Experience proves we must use our common sense. If you are here and out of money, then it is your fault, not God’s.’
“I tried to argue back in God’s defense. ‘But God’s guidance is even more important than common sense. I am certain He told me to bring His message to America. I can declare that the deepest darkness is outshone by the light of Jesus.”
“ ‘We have ministers to tell us such things,’ was the reply.
“ ‘Certainly, but I can tell from my experience in a concentration camp that what such ministers say is true.’
“ ‘It would have better for you to have remained in Holland. We don’t need any more preachers. Too many Europeans come to America. They should be stopped.’
…
“ ‘ten Boom,’ he mused when he heard my name. ‘I often tell the story of a nurse by that name. She experienced a miracle in a concentration camp with a bottle of vitamins that never ran out. I tell it to prove that God still performs miracles today, as in Bible times. Do you happen to know that nurse? Is she related to you?’
“I felt joy springing in my heart. ‘She is not a nurse,’ I replied. ‘She is a watchmaker. And you are looking at her. It was I who had that experience in 1944.’
“ ‘Then you must come with me to Staten Island and tell your story to my congregation,’ he exclaimed.
“I spent the next five days in this pleasant parsonage with Rev. and Mrs. Burggraaff. What a joy to eat good Dutch food again. I had been trying to find out how long one could exist on Nedick’s ten-cent breakfast which consisted of a cup of coffee, a doughnut, and a small glass of orange juice, eaten while standing at a counter. Now God was resupplying me, not only with food, but with new hope. I could see that the Lord does take pleasure in those that hope in His mercy!”

• Corrie ten Boom, Tramp for the Lord

This story of her first trip to America could easily be under the heading of what not to do, but God really had sent her.  With tremendous resistance, she met every argument with good, old-fashioned Dutch stubbornness and a belief that God had really told her to go to America.

She first had been told that she did not have the right paperwork, or she could never get on a boat to the USA.  She was told that the paperwork could never be approved.  She prayed and the paperwork was completed and approved.  She rushed to the ocean liner companies, and they were booked solid for months.  This would not do.  She felt God had directed her to America “NOW”, not months from now.  The money from the sale of her first book, The Hiding Place, was just starting to trickle in.  She had no idea if she would have enough money in a few months.  She sought the freighter companies.  One had a berth, but they said women never took the freighters, at least not by themselves.  She informed them that women did not until now.

Then when she got to America, she had a vague idea about a Jewish refugee organization that might let her stay for a few days.  It was hard getting past immigration.  They had to know a definitive forwarding address.

As she tried to set up opportunities to tell her story, you can see from the first half of the quote the types of resistance she endured.  But what is not told are the times when she slept in door frames at churches that did not allow her entry.  Then, she met the Burggraaffs almost by accident and the pastor had read her book, popular in Europe, but virtually unknown at the time in the USA.  This one opportunity led to another and then writing for a magazine, at no pay, just to get her story into more family homes.  Within a short time, she had too much work to do.

Then the Holy Spirit called her again.  She had to return to Europe, but not to Holland.  God was directing her to Germany, where she never wished to return.  The wounds were still fresh.

Lord, strengthen me.  Help me to tap into that inner strength that Corrie ten Boom seemed to have.  No amount of depravation would stop her.  And she knew she was doing God’s will.  We have cessationists who think miracles and God speaking directly to us is part of the Biblical past, but when You prove Yourself through people who take those steps of faith, You prove You are still miraculously active in the world today.  To turn the comment made by one of Tante Corrie’s detractors, the problem is not in God not being active in this age, but in our lack of faith.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.