TANTE CORRIE’S ADVICE

A week or two ago I relayed “Waldemar’s Warning,” a piece of my own spiritual history that was a game-changer for me and opened my eyes to the danger of heaving too much freedom and comfort.

Today I want to pass on a piece of advice from the late “Tante Corrie”, (“Aunt Corrie” in English), better known here in the US as Corrie Ten Boom and one of my most famous fellow Dutchies. She had a little poetic motto that recently flew around the internet again. Tante Corrie had many of those, but this is one that is especially relevant for us today:

“When you look at the world, you’ll be distressed,
 when you look within you’ll be depressed,
 if you look at God you’ll be at rest.”

Plenty of distress today if we look at what’s going on the world today, with COVID, fires, hurricanes, unemployment, uncertain election outcomes and what not.

Having been in full or partial quarantine for the better part of the year our inner persons probably don’t look too hot either. 

So that leaves looking at God, Who is on the Throne, rules all things, knows all things, and is for us an endless supply of peace, wisdom, truth, strength, comfort, love and joy.

All that and more flows to us as  daily grace and that’s what is behind Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Nowhere does it suggest in the Scripture that God’s loving reign means a problem-free life. Somewhere on the back of our minds we have begun to think that. Au contraire. He allows plenty of trouble in our life to strengthen our character and deepen our faith. Jesus warns clearly that “in the world you shall face tribulation” (John 16:33). He adds: “be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.”

And this is how His victory comes to us: The daily grace of Him inviting us to come to Him and take up His burden.

I used to think this meant ” I’m going to put a burden on you, but don’t worry, it will be light.” But that is not what this means. No, He offers to become our “yoke fellow.” The illustration He uses here from Jewish farm-life is a team of oxen. In order to pull a cart or plow the land, they were connected together by a yoke of two collars that fit around their necks with a crossbeam from one to the other across the middle .

It ensured two things:
1. That their load was evenly distributed.
2. That they would go in the same direction at the same pace.

So instead of adding to the burden of life, Jesus offers to carry it with us. His presence, love and teaching lightens our life-load and steers us according to which way Father knows is best!

I think this is also the idea behind Paul’s admonition in Galatians 5:16 where he admonishes believers to “keep in step with the Spirit.” 

Wait – how do we do that when everything outside and inside is in turmoil and our anxieties scream louder than any other voice? Do we stick our head in the sand and ignore the world like a monk in a self-made monastery so we can concentrate properly? That’s been tried and it doesn’t work. You can ignore the world for a while that way, perhaps, but not the turmoil within.

The secret is simple. Change your focus.  We have to stick with the most basic of Christian practices. It is absolutely imperative that we order our daily lives around time alone with God where we can meditate on the Word, let the Holy Spirit illuminate it for us, hear His voice, cast our anxieties on Him, and pray from that place of Holy Spirit guided intimacy with Him.

It’s in our prayer-closet that He slips on the other part of our yoke and gives us all we need to thrive in the midst of all this turmoil.

We are reminded regularly to cast our anxieties (the distress and depression Tante Corrie talked about) upon Him so that we can have peace and be spiritually vigilant (Philippians 4:6,7; 1 Peter 5:7). Those anxieties often speak loudest to us. When we cast them off by turning them over to Him, we make room for Him to speak to us, give us peace, and guide us in our prayers and our daily walk, one day at a time.

So be at rest as you pray, especially this week as the election drama unfolds. Here is a simple four-step pattern, one that I follow often:
1. Seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance in how He wants you to pray specifically for His will to be done and His kingdom to come through the election process, and for the forces of darkness to be defeated.
2. Make your concerns known to Him. Perhaps write them down on paper, verbally turn them over to Him. You could even burn them afterwards as a symbol that they are no longer yours!
3. Verbalize your faith that nothing happens outside His knowledge and will, that His ways are higher than our ways. and that the end of all things has already been determined. Remind yourself that your prayers are powerful and that God has ordained to work mightily through the prayers of His people.
4. Intercede for the nation according to what the Holy Spirit puts in your mind as you listen.

Then let Him flood you with the peace and warmth of His presence, and feel Him slip on His side of the yoke to lighten your load, guide your step and give you rest. 

Jesus promised to give you rest this way. But you have to come to Him. Make time, make room, shift your focus upward. If you’re not feeling it, perhaps you haven’t really come.

A hasty prayer here and there simply won’t do. Coming to Him means being willing to wait in His Presence till He has our full attention. Then and only then He speaks and ministers His grace.

I leave you with another gem from Tante Corrie:

“The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God’s realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love.”