This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!”
Revelation 14:12-13
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place to care for her for 1,260 days.
Revelation 12:6
But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness. There she would be cared for and protected from the dragon for a time, times, and half a time.
Revelation 12:14
And he came on a place and stayed the night there, for the sun had gone. And he took stones of the place and placed them at his head; and he lay down in that place. [LITV]
Genesis 28:11
We have one question left:
What is the reality of Ha Makom, The Place and how do we find it in the midst of severe tribulation?
All Christians learn to have their Quiet Time, their time alone with God, when they can read the Word of God, meditate and pray. Both of these women, Corrie Ten Boom and Immaculee Ilibagiza, prayed in the midst of distraction and the horrific turmoil going on around them. Their circumstances encouraged them to PRAY like they had never prayed before. They also enlisted other methods to keep their minds focused. They brought Bible quotes to mind, they sang songs in their mind, they tried to hang on to the memories of what God had done for them in the past. In short they practised overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of their Testimony.
Any normal person sinks into despair in the midst of the terror they were facing. They had to maintain silence. Although they were imprisoned in a space crammed with fellow prisoners, finding time alone was impossible. Their captors insisted they remained in silence. If they spoke aloud, if they sang songs they were threatened with punishment. Initially Corrie and Immaculee did not have a Bible so they were limited to the Word of God stored in their memory. Their captors were intent on breaking their will. Both women kept a calendar, a record of passing days and the significant things that happened.
Betsie, Corrie’s sister, had an irrepressible spirit and tried to see good in ordinary everyday things. She was intent on giving thanks in all circumstances and told Corrie to do the same, including thanking God for lice, bed bugs and fleas. Betsie sought to bring beauty into her cell, barracks or hut. She planted flowers outside the hut, she fashioned a lampshade out of red paper to bring colour to Barracks 28. She sought anything that would transform their surroundings into something of beauty. She encouraged Corrie to think on the good and lovely things and to pray for their captors and forgive them. Corrie’s response was “I can’t pray for the Nazis and I can’t forgive them.”
I received a letter telling me my father had died. A young German guard asked me what was wrong and I told her. She replied, “You brought this on yourself by breaking the laws.” She left and I whispered, “Dear Jesus, how foolish of me to have called for human help when You are here. Father sees You now, face to face. He and Mama are together walking those bright streets.”
Corrie Ten Boom The Hiding Place p. 169
Here is Immaculee’s description of being able to forgive her persecutors.
I tried not to think of the killers because I knew that I couldn’t forgive them. I was reading the Lord’s Prayer and meditating on each verse and came to “forgive those who trespass against us”. I heard them at the wardrobe, laughing while killing people. I cursed them, wishing that they’d burn in hell. ‘Aren’t you as guilty of hatred as them?‘ I tried to pray for them but I felt like my hatred would squash my heart. . . my hatred was so heavy it could crush me. How can I forgive people who would kill children? Touch my heart Lord, and show me how to forgive. Again I heard His voice, “Forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.” I opened my heart to God and He touched it with His infinite love. For the first time, I pitied the killers. I asked God to forgive their sins and turn their souls toward His beautiful light. That night I prayed with a clear conscience and a clean heart. For the first time since I entered the bathroom, I slept in peace.
I found a place in the bathroom to call my own: a small corner of my heart. I retreated there as soon as I awoke, and stayed there until I slept. It was my sacred garden, where I spoke with God, meditated on His words, and nurtured my spiritual self. When I meditated, I touched the source of my faith and strengthened the core of my soul. While horror swirled around me, I found refuge in a world that became more welcoming and wonderful with each visit. Even as my body shrivelled, my soul was nourished through my deepening relationship with God. I entered my special space through prayer; once inside, I prayed nonstop.
Immaculee Ilibagiza Left to Tell p. 94-95
Corrie Ten Boom and Immaculee Ilibagiza had both been transformed in The Place in the midst of terrible horror. Just as Immaculee heard the words from Luke 23:34, those same words changed the atmosphere around Corrie. She had stated she couldn’t pray for her captors, but she realised Jesus too had a faced a trial and those same words from Luke 23 came to Corrie spoken clearly by the Lord. She too needed to voice the words that she forgave the Nazis. She realised she could indeed give thanks for the infestation of fleas as Betsie had advised. The guards stayed out of the barracks at night because of the fleas, allowing Corrie and her fellow prisoners of Barracks 28 to read the Bible aloud and sing.
Semana Forces Felicien to Explain Why He Murdered Her Family
Felicien was the man who had personally sliced her mother into little pieces and had led the bands of Hutu killers to kill as many Tutsi as possible. He had cut off both arms of Immaculee’s elder brother, Damascene, to get him to divulge where Immaculee was hiding. When Damascene would not divulge her whereabouts, Felicien sliced open his skull to see what the brains of a man smarter than him looked like, thereby killing him.
“Stand up killer and explain to this girl why you murdered her mother and butchered her brother.” Felicien was sobbing. I could feel his shame. . . His dirty clothing hung from his emaciated frame in tatters. His skin was sallow, bruised and broken and his eyes were filmed and crusted. His once handsome face was hidden beneath a filthy matted beard and his bare feet were covered in open running sores. . . I wept at the sight of his suffering. He was now the victim of his victims, destined to live in torment and regret. I was overwhelmed with pity for the man.”
“After he killed your mother and Damascene (your brother), he kept looking for you. He wanted you dead so he could take over your family property, didn’t you, Pig?’
I flinched and gave an involuntary cry. Semana looked at me, stunned by my reaction and confused by the tears streaming down my face. He grabbed Felicien by the shirt collar and hauled him to his feet. What do you have to say to Immaculee?”
He looked up at me for only a moment, but our eyes met. I reached out, touched his hands lightly and said, “I forgive you.”
After Felicien was taken back to his cell, Semana said to me “What was that all about Immaculee? That was the man who murdered your family. I brought him to you to question . . . to spit on if you wanted to. But you forgave him! How could you do that? Why did you forgive him?”
I answered him with the truth. “Forgiveness is all I have to offer.”
Immaculee Ilibagiza Left To Tell p. 203-204
The Bathroom Became The Place of God’s Presence
The genocide forever changed my perception of time. During the frequent searches the killers made of Pastor Murinzi’s house while hunting for me, every second I spent crouching in my secret bathroom hideaway seemed to last a year. But the moment I opened my heart to God in prayer and felt the protective hand on my shoulder, I was transported to a place of peace where time ceased to exist, my heart was touched by eternity, my fear replaced with forgiveness, and my doubt dispelled by the certainty that I would forever be a beloved child of the Lord.
Immaculee Ilibagiza Left To Tell p. 210
Corrie Ten Boom tells of the same outcome for her. When she was able to forgive her tormentors, she met with God in The {Hiding} Place of Ravensbruck. Being able to forgive her oppressors helped her to call on the Lamb of God which transformed her place of prayer into Ha Makom – the Place where God’s Presence came down. That opened the way into the very presence of God as described by Jacob in Genesis 28:11. To the point where both Corrie Ten Boom and Immaculee Ilibagiza could echo Jacob’s words:
“Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it! . . . What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”
Genesis 28:16-17
Their Nazi prison camp and Hutu bathroom had been transformed into Ha Makom – the Dwelling Place of God. As Corrie had come to realise, “How foolish of her to have called for human help when The Christ Himself was present there with her”. Not only did Corrie have all the help she would ever need, but with it came the boldness to be a witness to the glory of God as well. Corrie suddenly had the boldness to tell Lieutenant Rahms, the guard appointed to escort her to her hearing, the source of her strength in response to his comment, “There is great darkness. I cannot bear the work I do here.” He then talked about his family in Bremen and his fear for their safety upon hearing Bremen had been bombed in the last days. Corrie felt a holy boldness come over her to tell Rahms, “There is One who has them always in His sight. Jesus is the Light that can shine even in such darkness as yours.” From that point on Lieutenant Rahms stopped grilling her in an attempt to trap her and only wanted to hear stories of her childhood and her family’s faith.
How can these oppressors turn into such monsters. No wonder Rahms despaired over the darkness that had consumed Germany. Perhaps another anecdotal story is called for concerning Yehiel Dinur. Yehiel was a Jew who survived Auschwitz. When he came face to face with Adolf Eichmann during the Nuremburg trials, Yehiel Dinur broke down sobbing. The world press wanted to know ‘Why?’ Because he was confronted with a monster? No. Because he remembered the hatred, the incarnate evil in Eichman’s face? No. Because it brought back memories? No. Yehiel said when interviewed, “Because he was just like me. I expected a madman but he is like me.” The horrifying thing is that Eichmann was not a monster; it’s that he was an ordinary man. You and I are capable of the same actions as any German who acquiesced to Hitler’s Final Solution and any Hutu who went on a killing spree during the Rwandan Genocide. The scariest aspect of all is: there by the Grace of God, it could be me. I too could be turned into a crazed killer like Felicien.
What is it that saves us from becoming human beings who change to commit such atrocious acts? Only the awareness of the Presence of God can curb our desire for retaliation or pay back.
“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.
John 5:39-40
In Gem 1249 I shared an Ian Story where God spoke to me personally through this verse:
It is not how passionately we embrace our religion; it is whether our reading the Word of God takes us beyond the Holy Scriptures, the Bible, to the point where we come face to face with God Himself.
We all need to find Ha Makom.
There is just one more Gem for me to write in this series.
Man was so engineered by God that the presence of the Creator within the creature is indispensable to His humanity.
Major Ian Thomas
The most holy and important practice in the spiritual life is the presence of God – that is, every moment to take great pleasure that God is with you.
Brother Lawrence
As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom. I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.
Nelson Mandela
The moment I opened my heart to forgive the killers, He touched it with His infinite love and for the first time I pitied the killers.
Immaculee Iligabiza
Wow VERY moving. Very well written. But also Very sobering. Now I have to try and sleep.
Thanks Kev