In late summer, with no foresight of what was to come, I found myself drawn once again to the story of Corrie ten Boom — that Dutch watchmaker’s daughter who defied the darkness of her time with nothing more than unwavering faith and a fierce love for God’s chosen people.
I picked up a copy of The Hiding Place at a quiet Christian bookstore in Berkshire, never suspecting how timely that small decision would become. A few months later, war erupted again in Israel. And suddenly, Corrie’s story wasn’t just a historical reflection — it became a mirror. A warning. A call.
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“Lord Jesus, I Offer Myself for Your People”
Corrie, her sister Betsie, and their elderly father Casper were simple Christians with a simple conviction: that to love Jesus meant to love the Jews — even when it meant risking everything.
Their modest home above the family’s watch shop in Haarlem became the heart of a secret network that saved hundreds of Jewish lives during the Nazi occupation. They constructed a hidden room. They prayed with military precision. They asked for God’s guidance at every dangerous turn.
Eventually, they were caught.
And hell — quite literally — broke loose.
Ravensbrück: A Living Hell Lit by the Word of God
Corrie and Betsie were sent to the infamous Ravensbrück concentration camp. What awaited them was starvation, filth, disease, humiliation, and cruelty. Yet in that living hell, heaven showed up — in whispered prayers, secret Bible studies, and defiant gratitude.
“Give thanks in all circumstances,” Betsie reminded Corrie, even as lice crawled on their skin and guards barked insults from the shadows.
With nothing left to cling to but the Word of God, they held underground “services” in the barracks. They translated Scripture aloud in Dutch, then into German, French, Polish, Russian… Language didn’t matter. Denomination didn’t matter. Only Jesus mattered.
No Pit So Deep
Before her death in the camp, Betsie famously whispered,
“There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still.”
That line — like a torch in the tunnel — still burns with light for anyone walking through their own version of captivity.
Corrie would later write of the “most joyous weeks” of their time in Ravensbrück:
“Side by side, in the sanctuary of God’s fleas, Betsie and I ministered the word of God… We watched women who had lost everything grow rich in hope. The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the word of God.”
Forgiveness Beyond the Fence
After the war, Corrie turned her home into a refuge — for the very Nazi collaborators who had once brought so much destruction. And in a church service in Munich, when faced with a guard from her camp who had since come to Christ, Corrie prayed for strength to forgive him — and with God’s help, she did.
That wasn’t just mercy.
It was supernatural.
It was Jesus.
A Message for Now: Don’t Look Away
Twice, Corrie mentioned how the locals turned their heads away as prisoners marched past on their way to Ravensbrück.
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And here we are again, in a world where Jewish people are under threat — from terrorism, from antisemitism, from indifference.
We must not turn away.
“If you love Jesus, you will love the Jews,” Corrie’s father once said. “And if we lose our lives doing so, it would be the greatest honour that could come to our family.”
We cannot remain neutral. We cannot stay silent. We must make a stand.
Because the hatred of Israel is not merely political — it is spiritual, a reflection of Satan’s rage against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Final Words: His Will Is Still Our Hiding Place
Corrie once narrowly missed death when a shard of shrapnel landed on her bed — a bed she would have been in, had she not joined Betsie for a cup of tea downstairs. But Betsie wouldn’t let her dwell on the what-ifs.
“The centre of His will is our only safety.”
“His will,” Corrie later said, “is our hiding place.” (Psalm 32:7)
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Today, that still rings true.
And as the world darkens again, her story becomes more than inspiration — it becomes intercession.
Let us watch.
Let us weep.
Let us protect.
Let us love.
Let us never forget.
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” – Corrie ten Boom
📖 Read “The Hiding Place” and pass it on.
Let the fire of watchful, sacrificial love burn bright in our generation.
