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“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe”. (Proverbs 29:25)
The Bible assures us that whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. We are also told that whoever listens to God will dwell secure and be at ease, without dread of disaster (Proverbs 1:33). In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence and His children will have a refuge (Proverbs 14:26).
But sometimes, it does not seem that God’s children are safe at all. Recently, I read Corrie ten Boom’s autobiography, “The Hiding Place”. She was a Dutch Christian who lived a quiet, happy life as a watchmaker for 50 years before the Nazis swept into Holland in 1940. Out of love of Jesus, her elderly father Casper, older sister Betsie, and Corrie offered shelter to persecuted Jews, becoming one of the leaders of the underground resistance movement. They were eventually found out in February 1944 and sent to Scheveningen prison, the Herzogenbusch political concentration camp and finally to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. Her father Casper and sister Betsie died during their imprisonment and Corrie was freed at the end of 1944. How can it be that God promises safety to those who trust in Him, yet many Christians suffer and die for their faith?
We can be sure that God cares for His children. God provided for Corrie even in the midst of suffering. Corrie’s little vitamin bottle, like the widow of Zarephath’s jars of flour and oil (1 Kings 17), miraculously produced vitamin drops every day for dozens of women and only ceased when a new stash of vitamins was found. In obedience to 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Betsie gave thanks for everything – including the fleas on their beds, to Corrie’s incredulity. Later, they realized that the fleas kept the guards out of the dormitory, where they held daily Bible readings. As Corrie described, “One, the observable, external life, grew every day more horrible. The other, the life we lived with God, grew daily better, truth upon truth, glory upon glory.”
Through Corrie’s story, and those of other heroes of faith, we understand better what God means when He promises safety even when circumstances look manifestly unsafe. We are safe because we trust in an Almighty God who is able to do far more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Even death is but the doorway that ushers us into the eternal kingdom of God to be with Him forever. For God is our hiding place; He will preserve us from trouble and surrounds us with shouts of deliverance (Psalm 32:7).
“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2)
