By: Kim Killebrew
When I was a child, one of my teachers read The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom to our class. This book is the detailed story of her experiences during World War II, including time in concentration camps. It profoundly affected me, as it does so many people. As I was reading more of Susan Hunt the other day, she pulled a story from that powerful book that is worth repeating.
“Hundreds of people arrived at the beautiful home in Blomendaal. Silent or endlessly relating their losses, withdrawn or fiercely aggressive, every one was a damaged human being. Not all had been in concentration camps; some had spent two, three, even four years hidden in attic rooms and back closets here in Holland... for all these people alike, the key turned out to be the same. Each had a hurt he had to forgive: the neighbor who had reported him, the brutal guard, the sadistic soldier.”
Then Corrie tells of her most difficult forgiveness encounter:
“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there - the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s [Corrie’s sister] pain-blanched face.
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. ‘How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,’ he said. ‘To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!’
His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Blomendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.
Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? 'Lord Jesus,' I prayed, 'forgive me and help me to forgive him.'
I tried to smile; I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. 'Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.'
As I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed 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.”
Susan Hunt says, “Probably nothing will stifle spiritual growth and development as much as an unforgiving spirit, and nothing will stimulate growth and development as much as forgiveness.” While we may never face the dilemma of forgiving a mocking captor, we must ask ourselves this question. Do I have a spirit of unforgiveness that keeps me stuck spiritually? May the Lord lead us all into a grateful spirit that forgives as our great God has forgiven us.
(Don’t forget that Susan is coming in 10 days. It’s a great opportunity to hear her in person and open your heart to the Lord’s leading in your own life. Don’t miss it! Register here!)
