Our text for today is Job 2:9-10
His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
Echoing this thought, there is a true story I want you to keep in your hearts. It is the story of two women in a concentration camp.
A ray of unexpected hope appeared among the horrors of the Ravensbruck concentration camp from an unusual source: fleas. This devotional describes Corrie ten Boom’s and her sister’s moving experience of giving thanks to God for gifts that are often concealed behind really difficult situations.
The story takes place in a flea-infested barrack. Corrie is perplexed by her sister’s persistence on giving thanks to God for the biting fleas as she struggles to accept the harsh reality of their circumstances. It was perplexing that her sister was appreciative of such an apparently bad part of their lives at a country where hope seemed to have vanished. Corrie, however, follows her sister’s example and practices faith by upholding the biblical precept of being thankful under all situations.
Over time, something amazing happens. The guards stopped invading their area; they were no longer a continual danger of assault and torture. The women felt somewhat safer during this brief but unexpected break. When the guards are not there, the barrack becomes a kind of sanctuary where the ladies study the Bible and build a sense of spiritual comfort and camaraderie.
It’s a remarkable turn of events to learn that the guards avoided their barrack because of the fleas. In actuality, what was thought to be a curse acted as a barrier, keeping the women safe. This tale demonstrates ways in which protection and optimism can appear in the most unexpected ways.
It pushes us to reevaluate how we view the difficulties we encounter by speculating that every adversity could conceal a protecting grace or blessing that we would only be able to recognize in retrospect.
It may seem hard, but we must ask with Job, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Sometimes we must have the faith to say, “Thank God for the fleas.”
Lonnie Davis