Thankful for the fleas!

https://philmoser.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/ravensbruck-prison.jpg

“Thank you God for the fleas,” said Betsie in her prayer during that first day on Barracks 28. In her book The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom explains how the barracks they were assigned to at the concentration camp during World War II, was infested with fleas. For Corrie, of all the things to be thankful for, a living space infested with fleas was not one of them. However, as time went by, the women living on Barracks 28 learned that the fleas were indeed a blessing as the German soldiers would not dare go inside such a place. The flea infested barracks gave the women the freedom to read Corrie’s little Bible that God that had so miraculously hidden from the Germans. Freedom to read the Bible in a German concentration camp. How grateful they all were for the fleas!

As I was reflecting on the many blessings I am grateful for, I started thinking that the Bible tells us to be thankful in all circumstances. This means I am to be grateful for the good things and for the bad. This is not easy as I don’t like to suffer, but that is what God expects of me. I need to be thankful for the “fleas”.

My mind went back to Corrie and Betsie ten Boom and their attitude of gratitude in a concentration camp. I can’t even imagine how awful that time must have been. Having to be forced to work, not knowing when your last day would be. At any moment the soldiers could come and lead the prisoners to an awful death inside the gas chamber. To find gratitude in the midst of that seems unreasonable, yet they were thankful for the fleas.

What about the apostle Paul when in jail with his companion Silas? They did nothing wrong, but share God’s love with others. Yet jealousy caused the Jews to lead a revolt and Paul and Silas ended up being thrown into jail. At any moment they too could be put to death. Yet in the middle of the night, in that cold prison cell, all they could do was sing praises to God. They were thankful for their “fleas.”

Have you heard of the Waldensian Christians? They were a group of people who remained faithful to the God of the Bible when the rest of the world fought to remain faithful to the traditions of men. Countless of these followers of God were persecuted and brutally murdered. Many escaped and found refuge in the mountains and caves of Italy. While enduring merciless persecution, many are the  accounts of them praising God in the refuge of the mountains. They were thankful for the “fleas.”

Horatio Spafford, the author of the well known hymn “It Is Well With My Soul”, suffered unimaginable loss. While still trying to cope with the pain of his young son’s death, his business suffered tremendously during the great Chicago fire of 1871. Looking for some normalcy to their lives, the Spaffords decided to travel to Europe. Horatio sent his family ahead of him while he remained behind to take care of some business, but the boat in which his family was traveling had an awful accident, and Horatio’s four daughters died. Only his wife survived. It was when traveling to meet his grieving wife, over the waters where his daughters had recently died, that Horatio penned the words to the beautiful hymn. In the middle of unimaginable pain, he was able to be thankful for the “fleas.”

So what “fleas” do you have to be thankful for? I was thinking about events and struggles in my life this past year. Sickness, divorce, death, divisions, families struggling, separation, bullying, and friends turning away from God just to name a few. How can I feel gratitude for the bad things that cause me so much pain and suffering? How in the world can I be thankful for “fleas”? Yet this is what God wants me to do. The only way I can think of is by leaning on the One who told me to trust Him in everything and to be thankful in every circumstance. With Him I can learn to focus on the positive and not on the negative. With Him I can have a peace in the midst of the storm that passes all human understanding. With Him I can learn to fight the battles that surround me. With Him I can overcome temptation. I can walk through the valley of the shadow of death knowing that I am not alone. He’s walking with me. God, who promised me strength, will help me do all things. Even the ones I feel are impossible. Not only is He the Giver of all the good things in my life, but He’s also the One who can work all things, even the bad ones, for my good. Thank you God for the "fleas."

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."

I Thessalonians 5:18

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
James 1:17

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28