Legacies of Light: Corrie and Betsy ten Boom

When life feels like a maze of sudden turns and steep drops, gaining a higher view can change everything. We explore Romans 8:28 with clear eyes, refusing to flatten pain or force a tidy bow on tragedy. Instead, we look at how a sovereign God weaves dark threads into a design we may not see yet, and how that promise strengthens real people to grieve honestly, act bravely, and forgive beyond reason.

We begin by clearing away common misuses: this promise does not explain evil, erase sorrow, reward passivity, or guarantee ease. From there, we dig into what Paul actually says. “We know” rests on God’s word, not on quick results. “God causes” announces His active involvement when our strength fails. “All things” insists on a synergy that may take a lifetime to surface, aimed at one goal: being shaped into the likeness of Christ.

Along the way, stories bring the doctrine to life. George Whitefield’s winter coat and unexpected guineas offer a flash of providence that encourages without setting false timelines. Corrie and Betsie ten Boom model courage inside Ravensbrück, where fleas—of all things—become a shelter for worship and Scripture. Their legacy of seeing even brutal guards as broken souls in need of love pushes us to imagine forgiveness we never thought possible. We close with a father’s raw confession after losing his son, and his shipyard image that helps us hold both mystery and hope: a single steel plate sinks alone, but the finished vessel floats.

If you’re ready for a grounded, compassionate take on Romans 8:28—one that honors tears, calls you to action, and steadies your trust—this conversation is for you. Listen, share it with someone carrying a heavy thread, and leave a review to help others find a higher view.

What does it look like to live a holy life? In In Pursuit of Holiness, Stephen shows you how to think clearly, resist sin, and live differently in a culture that pulls you the other way. Move beyond information to real application. Get your copy today and take your next step with Christ. https://bit.ly/4v5aktw

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Transcript

Sovereign Guidance Stated

SPEAKER_01 0:38

God causes everything to work together. So everything is entirely, comprehensively under his sovereign guidance. See, he's elevating our attitude to a higher altitude to understand that when God seems to be doing nothing, he's actually doing everything. No. The psalmist says, as for God, his way is blameless. He never makes a mistake. In a book entitled Mystery on the Desert, the author described a series of strange hills and valleys made by the Indians in Peru centuries ago. These hills will go for hundreds of yards and then suddenly stop, maybe turn suddenly, or maybe curve slowly around without any rhyme or reason. There doesn't seem to be any perceivable pattern. For centuries, these hills were believed to be the ancient remnants of an irrigation system. Perhaps it was boundary markers of some sort, maybe some kind of religious activity. Of course, the History Channel has jumped in and said they're alien, you know, produced uh whatever from you know time immemorial. But in in 1939, the mystery was solved, and it was solved because of the invention of the airplane. By flying high over these seemingly random hills and valleys that form straight lines, then curve this way or that, they discovered it was rather creative art. These hills and valleys were creative outlines, artistic renderings by rather ingenious Peruvian landscape artists creating outlines of birds and animals. You couldn't make sense of it on the ground, but every twist and turn meant something. Every hill and valley ultimately contributed to the masterpiece in the mind of the artist. There's a well-known verse in the Bible that calls for a higher perspective, a deeper understanding based on a higher altitude, so to speak. The hills and the valleys of life, the twists and all those turns are part of a divine masterpiece. We're going to need a higher altitude to come up with that perspective and attitude. The verse is well known to you if you're older in the faith. It's Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. I invite you to turn there. Paul is writing to the Roman believers. They are struggling to make sense of a number of things, a number of difficulties, a number of issues in the Christian life, and he's writing to us as well. And he writes here these words, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Read a little further in verse 29. Here's where he's taking us, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to being conformed into the image of his son. Now, before we dive into what Paul means here, let me give you a word of caution. Let me point out four misunderstandings, four misuses of this text. First of all, this text is not an explanation for evil. There are other passages that explain the fallenness of mankind and how God allows mankind the freedom to make moral decisions, and those moral decisions may in fact end up, or in other parts, be immoral decisions, violent decisions, leaving even the believer open to those immoral or evil or violent acts. Romans A28 is not some quick promise, some sort of special protection from the evil of the world that we live in. It does promise to take the evil and for us to understand that God will use everything to turn it into our good and for his glory. Secondly, this verse is not a mandate against grieving. Grief or sorrow. You don't need to be embarrassed about grieving or sorrowing over your loss, your pain, your questions. I've been in funeral homes. I remember one where people walk past the grieving widow and they said to her, Don't cry. Remember Romans 8.28. I just kind of wanted to choke him in Christian love, you know. I suppose they would lecture Jesus for weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. This is not a little happy verse, you slap on the back of people who are grieving. Third, this verse is not an excuse for avoiding the challenges of life. Hey, God's going to work everything out. I don't need to take a step of faith. I don't need to risk some decision. I don't need to evangelize. I don't need to sacrifice. I'll wait till the ghost is clear. He said he'd work everything out, I'm waiting. When I see it all clear, I'll move. That verse isn't talking about this perspective. Fourth, Romans 8.28 is not a promise for a trouble-free life. This verse doesn't promise the absence of trouble. It provides the right perspective because trouble's going to come. We'd like to use Romans 8.28 like a rabbit's foot. You know, a little lucky charm. We're going to assume that this verse means that everything's going to turn out and we can see it all good in a matter of hours. Or days. Maybe weeks. Some time ago I read the biography of George Whitfield, the two-volume sets, and God used him to fan the flames of the Great Awakening in the 1700s. I've often illustrated from his life. One of my favorites is when he learned of a widow with a number of children. The landlord had recently told her he was going to remove her from the premises because she couldn't pay the rent. So Whitfield, when he learned about it, saddled up and with a friend of his went and gave her his own money, gave her five guineas. I didn't, I don't know what a guinea is. Sounds like a furry animal, but so I did a little digging around and found out that in today's economy, a guinea would be worth$200. And he gave her five of them. So with that$1,000, he got her back in the house and took care of some needs that she had. Whitfield's friend was just in the process of chiding Whitfield for giving her money that he really couldn't afford to lose. And Whitfield, if you know his biography, he was always in debt. Couldn't afford the ministries. He started along with the orphanage, always needing money. Well, this robber gallops up and demands their money at gunpoint. Whitfield didn't have any. So his friend emptied his pockets. And after the robber galloped away, Whitfield chided him. How much better he said that I gave my money to the widow and you gave yours to the thief. Well, they continued on down the road in silence, and all of a sudden that robber came galloping back toward them. He rode up and then he demanded Whitfield's coat. It was winter. Whitfield had a heavy winter coat. Whitfield obeyed, but then asked if he could exchange it with the robber's old tattered coat in exchange, because it was cold. And the robber agreed and then galloped away. And Whitfield's friend chided him now and said, Now neither of us have any money, but at least I've got my coat. Well, a few minutes later they saw the robber galloping back toward them again, and now they're fearing for their lives. They'd given him everything. What could he want now? So they spurred on their horses, arrived at a village just in time. It turned the thief away. He was no doubt mortified because when Whitfield took off the man's tattered coat, he found in one of the pockets his five guineas, and in another pocket 100 more. That's$20,000. Now that's my kind of Romans 8.28 story. I'm going to apply it to that. That's for me. All things work together for good in one afternoon. What if Whitfield had been killed? What if he never got any money back? Would it be Romans 8.28? It's interesting if you look at the text that Paul is not saying that everything is good. He's using the language of a weaver, telling us that God is weaving all the threads of life together ultimately for good. We might not see it anytime soon. We may not see some threads pieced together with understanding until we leave earth for heaven. Now, Paul provides here in this text four reassuring truths. I want to call them four guarantees. This is what he is saying. The first guarantee is this the guarantee of God's word. You'll notice Paul begins with these words, for we know. You might notice earlier in verse 26, Paul writes, for we do not know how to pray, as we should. There are times when we do not know how to pray. But even when we do not know how to pray, we do know God has a purpose. Now you might notice that Paul does not write, for we hope, for we think, for we wish. Aren't you glad he didn't begin this verse by writing, for I feel? There's a big difference between feeling and knowing. We might be feeling the opposite of what God is actually doing. We might feel that God is not in control. We might feel that God has abandoned us. We might feel that God doesn't care. The truth is, we're in a fallen world. We are fallen human beings. We're surrounded by a fallen humanity. And it's good to remember that our feeler is fallen too. Let me make another observation here. Paul does not write for we apostles, no. We'd say, yeah, you know, apostles are supposed to think like that. You know, they get paid to write things like that. No, Paul doesn't write for apostles, no. He writes for we know. You in Rome. You in North Carolina. That's you and me. Keep in mind, Paul is not saying this is my opinion. Let me tell you, you haven't you found it true when the hills are high and the valleys are deep. You don't really want anybody's opinion. You don't really care about anybody's opinion. Even Paul's. This is the word of God. You can bank on it. For we know God is weaving everything according to his divine purpose. Now, in the New Testament, there are several ways of saying that we know something. The English language is somewhat limited, Greek's much more expressive. One Greek cognate for knowing is genosko, which means to know by means of experience. I know that oven is hot because I touched it. And by means of experience, I now know something. There's another cognate, and that's oida. That is, you don't know this by personal experience. You know this because it's the truth, and you've been told it. You believed it. You didn't touch the oven because you believed the propositional truth, it was hot. Therefore, you learned by oida. You learned by fact, and you believed the fact. That's the word Paul uses here in Romans 8.28. He's not saying we know that God is working all things together for good because we're personally experiencing that right now. No, we know because he said it. It's a fact. We know God is in control because God said he is. You know, there are times in your life, beloved, when all you have is God said it. God said so. And you need to surrender to him like little children to a mother or father who finally says, upon all their objections, I said so. That's all you need to know. And it is impossible for God to lie when he speaks. Hebrews 6.18. This is the guarantee of God's word. Secondly, there is this guarantee of God's involvement. Paul writes further, for we know this, that God causes. In other words, we not only believe, but we we believe that God is involved behind what we believe. God is the cause. He is the completer of his divine purpose. And that's great news, isn't it? Because if the will of God, if the purposes of God would be fulfilled dependent upon our faithfulness, our diligence, our cleverness, our intentions of God, and God's purposes would end up a lot like our New Year's resolutions here in August. If you remember what they even are. Already you're now going home again by means of crispy cream. Down 401 South, in the Fuque's second light on the right, not that I would know. Paul writes to the Philippians, I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work and you will complete it. In that day, that is, when you see Jesus Christ. He will complete what he's doing in you and with you. He's the completer. And I'm so grateful he is. Now, third, Paul refers to the guarantee of God's control. Paul writes, for we know that God causes all things. All things. I looked this up in several Greek lexicons, discovered something amazing. You know what the word all means in the Greek language? It means all. It gives us our word synergy. Synergism. Webster defines synergism as the combined action of two or more things which have a greater effect together than the sum of their individual parts. In other words, any one thing might not be all that productive. It might not be all that positive or encouraging or helpful. That one thing never fits, seems to work out. Perhaps later you might realize how that one thing brought about another thing which affected a different thing, resulting in the final thing. But remember, whether we realize it or not, whether we see it or understand it or not, Paul isn't saying we will. He's saying that God is doing just that with everything. All the parts woven together. Ultimately, verse 29 informs us so that we will be further conformed into the likeness of Christ. By the way, this is a perspective given he writes here to those who love God and are called according to his purposes. Those are phrases tantamount to believers, the redeemed, those who've come to faith in the Son of God, where to live with that kind of perspective, that missed appointment, that introduction, that tragedy, that conversation, that program, that hospital room, that loss, that accident. There are the hills and the valleys of divine art. We may not see it now. Doesn't make sense on earth. But we will see it one day, and so we pray, Lord, raise the altitude of our attitude until that coming day when we finally literally soar above all the twists and turns and are given the perspective and understanding of his masterpiece. I don't think there's any biography that has demonstrated the sovereign control of God even over the evil of the world than the legacy of Corey and Betsy Tin Boom. Betsy was the oldest, if I could review briefly. Their testimony. Betsy was born seven years before Corey, the youngest of four children. The girls would remain unmarried and frankly inseparable over the decades. They were the daughters of a famous watchmaker in the Netherlands, a Dutch family who followed Christ faithfully. Their mother had died young. The girls grew up and lived and worked in their family home, which served also as the shop, the store, for their father's watchmaking, watch repairing a business which had become quite successful. In fact, Clory will become the first woman to be licensed in the Netherlands as a watchmaker. Well, during World War II, when Hitler's troops were invading the Netherlands, the Ten Boon family began hiding Jews to keep them from the concentration camps they'd heard about. They built a secret hideaway in Corey's third-floor bedroom, a small room hidden behind a fake wall of brick that they'd actually built. They're on the third floor. Marcia and I had the privilege years ago of visiting their home and looking into that secret place where more than 800 Jewish people of all ages passed through at one point or another over the course of those four years. Eventually, an informant tipped off the Gestapo. And even though they came to the home on more than one occasion, raiding it, trying to find that hiding place, they never could find it. But on one particular raid, they found enough evidence, they knew that they were hiding Jewish people. They were all arrested. Within ten days of being arrested, Casper, Tenboom, the father, passed away. Several family members would die in concentration camps. Some would survive. Claurie and Betsy eventually ended up in a women's concentration camp called Ravensbrook. In reality, it was a killing place. Nearly 50,000 women died there, starved to death, or died from medical experiments on their bodies, or they were gassed and then poisoned and then burned in furnaces. In that concentration camp, Betsy would inspire a movement through her influence on Corey and all the women. Betsy would lead many of these women to faith in Christ. She would teach nightly Bible studies with a Bible they had smuggled in. She would pray with the women. Betsy would die from a multitude of illnesses inside the camp just four months before the war ended. She was 59 years old. Two weeks after Betsy died, 52-year-old Corey was rather miraculously released, and it was all because of a clerical error. She found out that one week after her surprise release, all the women, her age and older, 50 years and up, were taken to the gas chamber and killed. She knew that God had spared her life, and at Betsy's earlier urging, while they're in the concentration camp, Corey, you're going to get out, and when you get out, take the testimony of God's faithfulness to your world. And she will, she will spend the rest of her life telling the story of the hiding place. You may be familiar with that title. It's the title of her international best-selling book published in 1971. Corey will pass away in 1983, the age of 91. Now, if you read The Hiding Place or the newer biography entitled The Watchmaker's Daughter, and I encourage you to do so, I've read both of them. You'll know why Romans 8.28 comes to mind. Now, while Corey, because of her nearly 40 years of ministry, is well known, Betsy was actually the mentor. Betsy was actually the shining light in Ravensbrook, the discipler, the teacher. She profoundly influenced Corey to live for Christ in a more profound manner. She seemed to have that higher perspective of trust. Even within the barbed wire of their concentration camp, she would be beaten and mistreated by one particular female guard who just seemed to have it out for her. And yet she would urge Corey toward this spirit of forgiveness. She would say that she sees them all as, quote, broken souls in need of God's love. Now, their particular barrack in Ravensbrook was infested with fleas. Fleas were everywhere. One morning she's reading to the women from 1 Thessalonians to rejoice in all things, and she just sort of stops and announces that they need to thank God for the fleas. Somehow she said they were in the will of God. Corey wasn't convinced. Not many of them were. And she protested. She said this, I will not thank God for allowing fleas. She would say often that she didn't know who Betsy was. She thought she was from another planet at times. But Betsy was persuasive. Eventually, all the women in that barrack, thank God for whatever his purposes might be, with all those fleas. And then it's interesting. She writes it, or the biographer writes it, in the months that followed, they realized they'd never had any surprise visits from guards. They were left alone where they could sing, praise, study, and read the Bible aloud without fear. They learned later that guards avoided their barrack because of the fleas. When Betsy was suffering with illness, several of them. Near the end of her life. She was the one. This is often attributed to Corey, but Betsy was the one who said this. Wonderful statement. There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still. There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still. Clori would adopt the influence of her sister's light and testimony, though not easy for her. She began to imitate that legacy left to her. She became her own legacy of love and grace. She would come to personally forgive the man who informed on her family. She forgave a male guard who had made her in particular suffer greatly. She would one day meet that cruel female guard who made her sister suffer. Corey would share the gospel with her and then lead her in prayer as that former guard gave her life to Christ. Corey would build several retreat centers for those who suffered mentally, physically in the war, including people in her region who had collaborated with the Nazis. Even them. Her biographer wrote that Corey would spend the final 39 years of her life after she was released, giving her testimony of love, forgiveness, and grace to everyone, students in Uganda, farmers in Cuba, factory workers in Uzbekistan, villagers in Siberia, prisoners in San Quentin, officials in the Pentagon, lepers in Africa. She would speak to people in more than 60 countries. She would often say that the will of God was her hiding place. That he was in control. In charge. Every hill, every valley, every twist, every turn. Let me give you a recent example, more recent. I read this. A pastor returned to his pulpit a few weeks after his son took his own life. And this was the text of his sermon, Romans 8.28. He read it. And then he looked at his congregation and said, and I quote, I cannot make my son's death fit into this passage. It is impossible for me to see how anything good can come from this. Yet I realize I only see in part. I only know in part. And the part, this part, doesn't make sense to me. He goes on to say, it's like the miracle of a shipyard. Almost every part of our great ships are made of steel. If you were to take any single part of that vessel, be the steel plate from the hull or steel from its rudder, and throw it into the ocean, it would immediately sink. Steel parts don't float. But when the shipbuilder is finished, when the last plate has been riveted in place, that massive steel ship slips into the water and the combined parts float. He applies it. Taken by itself, my son's suicide is senseless. Throw it into the sea, and it will sink. But when the divine shipbuilder has finally finished, even this part will be riveted together with every other part into God's unsinkable plan. That is Romans 8 28. He is orchestrating it all toward what we will one day become, what we will one day see. He's working everything together now. It's guaranteed. It's guaranteed.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

He said so. For our good and his glory,