Thank God for the Fleas

James 1:2-4

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, wheneve you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

I stayed up way past my bedtime last weekend reading parts of Corrie Ten Boom's famous book, The Hiding Place. It describes her life and experiences in Nazi occupied Holland and then in a concentration camp. She and her family were instrumental in running an underground network to hide Jews from the authorities who sought to arrest them. I'm sure you realize what happened to the Jews if they were arrested.

If you have never read her book, I highly recommend it. It is written in an easy to read format, and although the content is far from an easy read, I believe that you will be rewarded in many ways for your effort.

Following are some excerpts from the book that I haven't been able to get out of my head.

We pick up the story as Corrie and her sister Betsie have been assigned their permanent beds at the Ravensbruck labor camp.

We followed our guide single file--the aisle was not wide enough for two--fighting back the claustrophobia of these platforms rising everywhere above us. The tremendous room was nearly empty of people; they must have been out on various work crews. At last she pointed to a second tier in the center of a large block. To reach it we had to stand on the bottom level, haul ourselves up, and then crawl across three other straw-covered platforms to reach the one that we would share with--how many? The deck above us was too close to let us sit up. We lay back, struggling against the nausea that swept over us from the reeking straw. We could hear the women who had arrived with us finding their places.

Suddenly, I sat up, striking my head on the cross-slats above. Something had pinched my leg.

"Fleas!" I cried. "Betsie, the place is swarming with them!"

We scrambled across the intervening platforms, heads low to avoid another bump, dropped down to the aisle, and edged our way to a patch of light.

"Here! And here another one!" I wailed. "Betsie, how can we live in such a place?"

"Show us. Show us how." It was said so matter of factly it took me a second to realize she was praying. More and more the distinction between prayer and the rest of life seemed to be vanishing for Betsie.

"Corrie!" She said excitedly. "He's given us the answer! Before we asked, as He always does! In the Bible this morning. Where was it? Read that part again!"

In glanced down the long dim aisle to make sure no guard was in sight, then drew the Bible from its pouch. "It was in First Thessalonians," I said. We were on our third complete reading of the New Testament since leaving Scheveningen. In the feeble light I turned the pages. "Here it is: 'Comfort the frightened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all...'" It seemed written expressly to Ravensbruck."

"Go on," said Betsie. "That wasn't all."

"Oh yes:"...to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus--'"

"That's it, Corrie! That's His answer. 'Give thanks in all circumstances!' That what we can do. We can start right now to thank God for every single thing about this new barracks!"

I stared at her, then around me at the dark, foul-aired room.

"Such as?" I said.

"Such as being assigned here together."

I bit my lip. "Oh yes, Lord Jesus!"

"Such as what you're holding in your hands."

I looked down at the Bible. "Yes! Thank You, dear Lord, that there was no inspection when we entered here! Thank You for all the women, here in this room who will meet You in these pages."

"Yes," said Betsie. "Thank You for the crowding here. Since we're packed so close, that many more will hear!" She looked at me expectantly. "Corrie!" she prodded.

"Oh, all right. Thank You for the jammed, crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds."

"Thank You," Betsie went on serenely, "for the fleas and for--"

The fleas! This was too much. "Betsie, there's no way even God can make me grateful for a flea."

"'Give thanks in all circumstances,'" she quoted. "It doesn't say, 'in pleasant circumstances.' Fleas are part of this place where God has put us."

And so we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.

**************************

Picking back up our story, Betsie has been placed on the light duty of a knitting brigade after an illness that required hospitalization (or what passed for hospitalization at the forced labor camp.)

Best of all, as a result of her hospitalization, she was given a permanent assignment to the "knitting brigade," the women we had seen the very first day seated about the tables in the center room. This work was reserved for the weakest prisoners, and now overflowed into the dormitories as well.

Those working in the sleeping rooms received far less supervision than those at the tables, and Betsie found herself with most of the day in which to minister to those around her. She was a lightning knitter who completed her quota of socks long before noon. She kept our Bible with her and spent hours each day reading aloud from it, moving from platform to platform.

One evening I got back to the barracks late from a wood-gathering foray outside the walls. A light snow lay on the ground and it was hard to find the sticks and twigs with which a small stove was kept going in each room. Betsie was waiting for me, as always, so that we could wait through the food line together. Her eyes were twinkling.

"You're looking extraordinarily pleased with yourself," I told her.

"You know we've never understood why we had so much freedom in the big room," she said. "Well--I've found out."

That afternoon, she said, there'd been confusion in her knitting group about sock sizes and they asked the supervisor to come and settle it.

"But she wouldn't. She wouldn't step through the door and neither would the guards. And you know why?"

Betsie could not keep the triumph from her voice: "Because of the fleas! That's what she said, 'That place is crawling with fleas!'"

My mind rushed back to our first hour in this place. I remembered Betsie's bowed head, remembered her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for.

I have nothing so difficult as fleas to thank God for. But I'm going to start thanking Him for a few other things that I can see no use for.

If Christ Is Not Risen

1Corinthians 15:17

"And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!"

I once spent several hours listening to a woman speak at a church conference. Mostly, she was sharing her testimony, which, I'll grant, was quite dramatic. But her testimony is not what I remember when I think back on that experience.

Instead, it was the claim which she repeatedly made, that Jesus "works."

She made a big point of saying that people don't really care all that much if Jesus is true. Nowadays, people are more interested in whether or not Jesus, and Christianity, will work.

I suppose I could agree with her in many ways. Jesus does in fact work in things that are most important. He works in regard to cleansing us from our sin. He works in regard to reconciling us to God. He works in regard to redeeming our lives from the pit of destruction.

And hey, I'll even agree that there are many comforts and benefits that result from being a Christian. We experience sanctification, we are able to fellowship within a local body of Christ, we are given opportunities to serve God, study about God and strive to become more like Him. There is even that whole "peace of God which transcends all understanding" and "the joy of the LORD" thing.

But does our entire Christian faith, our hope of eternity, rest on the fact that Jesus works? Whatever that even means?

No.

Jesus is not some form of cosmic self help. He doesn't promise that you will have square finances, a solid marriage, and a happy, easy, stress-free life. In fact, the Bible makes a lot of claims about the trouble that will come into the lives of believers.

John 16:33

"...in this world you will have tribulation..."

James 1:2

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,"

2 Timothy 3:12

"Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution."

And more importantly, if Jesus matters only because He works then we are all in a heap of trouble. Because, you see, if Jesus isn't true, then we are all still dead in our sins, we are all still separated from God, and we will all suffer eternal damnation in hell upon our unavoidable death.

That is why I put that verse from 1 Corinthians up at the top of this post. If Christ is not risen, than this Christianity business is a big ol' waste of our time. It doesn't matter if Jesus "works" if Jesus is not first of all true.

Meditation and deep breathing might help you if you suffer from stress. Reading some books about financial management might help if you are tempted to spend more money than you earn. Getting a divorce might make you feel better if you just can't get along with your spouse. The world is chock full of advice about how to make your life "work" the way you think it should. And to be quite honest, sometimes the techniques that the world trumpets seem to be a whole lot more effective than obeying God, at least in the short term.

Let me give you a general example. Right now I am being obedient to God in a situation that is making me very unhappy. I mean specifically, that it is the obeying that is causing me great unhappiness, not the situation itself. I would much rather be disobedient and get some relief from the strain, stress and frustration I feel. But I am obeying a direct command of God that is found in the Bible. There is no wiggle room or way to 'reinterpret' this particular command so that I can feel good about disobeying. The command is clear. And in my obedience, I am, quite frankly, miserable. I don't have any sense of peace about it--at all.

I do trust God. I believe that He is working out something for my benefit and His glory in the midst of my situation. (See Romans 8:28.) But in the right here and now, I'd be hard pressed to say that Jesus is "working" for me.

But I would be willing to stake my life on the claim that Jesus is true.

If Jesus matters because He works, then why isn't he working for me when I am clearly obeying Him?

Do you see what a potential disaster could be brewing if I decided to become a Christian, because I wanted something to "work" for me?

Let me put it to you the way Paul does in one of his letters to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 15:19

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable."

1Corinthians 15:32

"If the dead do not rise, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"

In other words, if there is no resurrection from the dead, then don't waste your time obeying a bunch of rules and living a life of sacrifice. Go out and do what you want! Eat! Drink! Enjoy yourself! If this is all you have, you might as well make the most of it. It would be a great pity if you denied yourself the pleasures available in this world, and then your beliefs all turned out to be a big deception.

But Jesus did rise again from the dead. And because Christ has risen, all of us will also rise. Some will rise to glory and some will rise to condemnation. But it will happen. Not because Jesus makes me feel good, or Jesus made me a better person, or Jesus saved my marriage. Not even because Jesus works. But because Jesus is true.

Wouldn't You Know It?

The city that I live in has experienced some serious flooding during the past week. Dozens of families (many without flood insurance) have found their homes filled with chest-deep water. My family, and my home, have been unharmed, despite the fact that my house sits literally a few feet away from a creek that swells up like no body's business when we get any serious rainfall.

Even though I haven't suffered any major harm--I have been cut off from the Internet for the past week or so. It seems that my Internet service provider found its satellite dishes and communication systems under water. Understandably, that makes providing Internet and cable services rather difficult.

By anyway, allow me to get to the point. During the past (Internet-free) week, I have been formulating some seriously post-able thoughts. I have barely slept, as my mind keeps furiously writing blog posts while I lie in bed. Frustrating for sure. But potentially fruitful!

So check back. I am, as usual, busy as a mad bee, but I'm going to have to get some of these thoughts up into cyberspace soon, or I may drop dead from sleep deprivation.