Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.
Psalm 119:11
I have a hard time killing ants. Yes, those pesky little black insects, I feel bad killing them. While my soft spot for them might not be quite as big as it is for those goofy-looking little stink bugs that get flipped over on their back, and then flop around helplessly until someone flips them over, I shudder every time I kill one of those hard working little ants that can move 10-50 times its body weight. What in the world would make me hesitate to kill an ant? To answer I would ask: Have you ever heard of Corrie Ten Boom?
The Ten Boom family were watchmakers and repairers living in Amsterdam in the early 20th century. Corrie Ten Boom helped her father in his watch shop and had won some acclaim for her work. But then life started to change. Hitler took over the country of Germany and, while the Ten Booms were not Jewish, they noticed the mistreatment happening to their Jewish friends and family.
Corrie started getting involved in the underground movement to save the Jews by getting them out of German-controlled territory. Seeing an even greater need, the Ten Booms were approached by members of the underground asking if they would be willing to hide some Jews in their home. It just so happened that the pieced together construction of their home leant itself perfectly to a secret room being constructed behind the wall in Corrie’s bedroom. The Ten Booms found themselves hiding six Jews.
Then, in the middle of the night, their home was raided by the Gestapo. Even though the Jews were safely hidden, the Germans took the Ten Booms to the concentration camps. For a while Corrie was held in solitary confinement. She had no one to talk to and no one for comfort… no one that is, except for one little ant. This ant would come crawling into Corrie’s cramped cell, and instead of killing it, Corrie watched the little ant and made friends with it. During her time of solitary confinement, the ant was her one reminder of life outside her cell.
Corrie was eventually released from her cell and allowed to join the other women being held, including her beloved sister Besty, who was also taken captive. Corrie was lucky in that while being searched upon entrance to the concentration camp, she was roughly shoved forward and wasn’t searched. She was therefore able to keep the little Bible she had concealed beneath her dress.
Corrie and her sister were able to covertly share the word, and even have a Bible study of sorts while in the concentration camp. But even more than that, Corrie was able to share the gospel with other people, not only because of the Bible she held in her hands, but also because of the knowledge of the Bible that she held in her head and heart.
Psalms 119:11 tells us to, “Hide thy word in our hearts that we might not sin against thee.” Memorization and Bible study are important, not just so that we don’t sin against God, but so that we also can knowledgeably share His word with others. I pray we never find ourselves thrown into a concentration camp or prison, but are you prepared if that should ever happen? Do you have enough of His word hidden in your heart that you could knowledgeably share the gospel with someone on the spot, even if you didn’t have a phone or Bible in your hand?
There you have it–the very long explanation for why I struggle to squash an ant, as the ant reminds me of Corrie Ten Boom. She helps to remind me to always have His word hidden in my heart.
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