Courage When We Need It?

Things that look cheap may be priceless. George Vandeman shares a devotional thought that illustrates how this applies to our spiritual life.

It’s easy to fear the future. Trudy Morgan Cole reminds us that God has everything cared for.

As a small child, Corrie ten Boom wondered about persecution and martyrdom. She confided to her father that she didn’t think she’d ever have the strength to be a martyr if God required that of her.

“Corrie”, her father replied, “When we go to Amsterdam on the train, when do I give you money for your ticket? Three weeks before?”

“No, of course not,” she replied.

“You give the money right before we get on the train.”

“It’s the same way with our heavenly Father,” Corrie’s wise father said.

 “He gives us the strength to face trial and persecution exactly when we need it – not before.”

In her fifties, Corrie ten Boom found herself sentenced to a Nazi concentration camp for hiding Jews during the German occupation of Holland. She had never imagined she’d ever have the courage to defy the laws of an evil government or to face its terrible punishment – but when she was needed the strength it was there, just as her father had promised. Just as it will be there for you when you need it!

-adapted from Signs of the Times, 2010