Someone Has To Pay

From The Word For You Today Devotional.

A lady was upset because her mother-in-law forgot to ask her to a family picnic. So when her son called on the morning of the event to invite her, she replied angrily, "It's too late -- I've already prayed for rain!"

When we're hurting we want someone to pay, so we lash out at the wrong people. One lady writes, "I was so angry I spent years trying to collect what I thought was due, from people who'd nothing to do with my hurt. Finally God caused me to realize that I was trying to collect a debt from my husband that he didn't owe. When I accepted this, God began to bless me beyond anything I could ever have imagined."

One night after preaching about forgiveness, Corrie Ten Boom recognized that the man approaching her was a former guard from Ravensbruck, the Nazi prison camp where she was tortured and her sister Bessie starved to death.

When he asked her to forgive him, Corrie thought about Betsie, and felt she couldn't do it. Nevertheless, she knew she must, otherwise, everything she'd preached would be meaningless.

So she told God, "I can extend my hand, I can do that much, but You'll have to supply the feelings." Taking the man's hand she felt God's power rushing through her, enabling her to wholeheartedly say, "I forgive you, brother."

Corrie never experienced God's love so intensely as she did that night. Although she'd been badly tortured, she let God heal her and then went on to help others.

The truth is - forgiveness is the ONLY way to have peace! Will you take time to get alone with God and ask where you've been gathering evidence to justify not forgiving someone? Deal with it today. There's nothing more important.

My first exposure to Corrie Ten Boom was reading a book called "The Hiding Place." Shortly after that I saw the movie with the same title. It was a long time ago, but I have etched in my mind a few of her statements that astounded me at that time. Find more books about Corrie Ten Boom at Amazon.com where you can read inside some of them.