Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
    lead me on level ground.

• Psalm 143:10

“He looked at me and sighed. ‘I will tell you how to get this young man free.’

The room whirled around me. ‘Tell him, instead,’ I said, gesturing to my companion while trying to calm my breathing. My heartbeat didn’t return to normal until I was safely out of the prison.
” ‘I was told you were never afraid. You looked like a ghost,’ my companion said.
“I had been terrified. Was I the same Corrie who stood in this concentration camp, comforting friends as they went to their deaths? Yes, I was the same woman, but when I was here before, I was where God had called me. This work was no longer God’s will. He had called me to something new. My friends forbade me to do any more underground work, and I agreed. When we are in the center of God’s will, His grace keeps us.
“Each assignment releases His wisdom, favor and protection. We must be careful not to hold on to what we had when God calls us to move on. Let us be sensitive to the leading of His Spirit and commit each day to Him.”

• Corrie ten Boom, God is my Hiding Place

“The center of God’s will is the safest place for me to be.”

• Corrie ten Boom, Highlighted Quote

Boilerplate

In this new mini-series, I will be looking at a devotion that is said to be written by Corrie ten Boom.  Really, this devotion is like several that I had read.  They come from the writings of that person.  Thus, the prayers at the end may be the editor’s addition to what Corrie ten Boom actually wrote.

Each of these posts will include the suggested verses to read, a quote from the writing that came from a Corrie ten Boom book (five in all according to the copyright page, but no chapter in the book is given the specific book of origin).  I will also include the highlighted quote, similar to an internet quotation, and I will end with the quoted prayer for that devotion.

Discussion

This quote, probably from The Hiding Place, is hard to place chronologically.  She had been to prison, but now she was free.  She spoke of the concentration camp, but the war was not yet over.

But the key here is that Corrie ten Boom was fearless when she knew she was in the center of God’s will.  She had entered the prison as someone from the underground to try to free a prisoner.  The governor claimed to be a member of the underground and he would tell Corrie how to get the prisoner free.  And as the quote starts, she tells the governor to tell the man directly.

She was frightened because this was not what God had called her to do.

That is a strange place to be.  I say strange in that it is hard to describe.  God does not always visit you in your quiet place and give you a verbal message while the angels hover, visibly in front of you.

Could it happen that way?  It might, but I have never seen it.  I doubt if I have ever gotten an audible voice.  But there have been times that I could swear that the voice was audible.  There was no doubt in my mind that the words had been spoken.

When I got the calling to write a blog, I questioned the voice.  That is not that odd.  Moses complained that he was not a good public speaker.  Jeremiah lamented that he was too young.  Gideon was the youngest, and the wimp, of the smallest family in the smallest clan…  God got their attention, and they served God faithfully.  So, raising objections might give God a little heartburn, but He has responded to weak faith before.  And it may not be weak faith.   God is not the only one who whispers things in your ear.  Gideon thought one of his brothers was hiding in a tree or something and playing a trick on him.  Verification may not come, but God obliged Gideon and He had already done enough for Moses.  But my verification was that the voice kept saying the same thing until I complied.

But I have been on street evangelism trips, and I had misgivings.  Was this God’s will or was I simply weak?  Then when Satan sent a man to verbally attack me, the Holy Spirit took over.  I met every argument with Bible verses, some that I had memorized and some that I had a vague idea about, and some of the time, I had no idea what I was saying, but the others with me were impressed.  But I have to attribute the entire thing to the Holy Spirit.  And I still wonder whether it was within God’s will or did the Holy Spirit see that I was trying to do this the right way and I was in over my head.  I just know that the Holy Spirit is awesome when He does such things.

But to go into a hostile environment as a favor to someone without knowing whether it would get you sent back to a death camp…  That was too much for Tante Corrie.

Sometimes we have deadlines to meet, but it is always a good idea, time permitting, to pray about the task before us.  Ask God to reassure us that we are in the center of His will.

Closing Prayer

“Father, You have ordained the seasons of my life. Give me the wisdom to discern them. Unless I am in the center of Your will, I will strive to work but only find that I am weak and without the grace I need. But when I follow Your leading, even if it takes me to the ends of the earth, I will be strong and bear fruit for Your glory because You will be with me.”

• Corrie ten Boom, God is my Hiding Place (prayer for Day 18, God’s Grace is Found in Doing His will)

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.