Hand in Glove
I met the elderly Corrie ten Boon in the mid-1970s when she took a beachside cottage near Melbourne, Florida to collaborate with my writing mentor, Jamie Buckingham on her book, “Tramp for the Lord.”
One afternoon when I heard her preach in Rev. Buckingham’s church, I called her sermon a “Hand in Glove” message about the need for the Holy Spirit..
Holding up an empty glove, she waved it in the air, proclaiming, “This empty glove cannot do anything by itself, but when my hand is in the glove, it can do a great deal. It can even cook, write, and do many things. I know it’s not the glove, but the hand in the glove.”
She continued, “When I put only one finger in the glove, it cannot do anything. So it is with us. We are gloves. The Holy Spirit is the hand which can do everything, but we must give Him room right in the outer corners of our lives. Then we can expect that He will do a lot in and through us. The power of the Holy Spirit is of tremendous value to us. The Bible says, ‘Be filled with the Spirit.’”1
Then she read from her Bible, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more likely it is that your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” (Luke 11:13b). “Just ask Him,” she said, raising her voice.
She turned to Acts and read what Jesus said before He ascended into heaven. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be [witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
She added: “Jesus is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit and therefore the fullness of the Holy Spirit is the birthright of every child of God. So, let’s desire the spiritual gifts that the Lord has given us. Let’s be His witnesses wherever we are, wherever we go—filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit.”
I sometimes ponder her empty glove illustration. How I need to ask for the Holy Spirit’s filling often. Not just once, but many times.
Corrie gave her talk on the need of the Holy Spirit from her own personal dependence on Him, having been imprisoned in a horrible Nazi concentration camp in Germany during World War II. With the help of the Holy Spirit and her smuggled Bible she ministered to other women at night in her crowded prison barracks.
When she started coming to the United States in 1963 to lecture and write, she began a family-type relationship with my friend, Fran Ewing and Mike, her doctor husband. For many years they kept a bedroom in their home set aside for Corrie’s visits—even when they lived in three different states. Whenever I visited them in their Northwest Florida home they had many pictures and stories to share about Corrie.
Here’s more about Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983):
In Holland in 1943 and into 1944, Corrie and her family and friends, working in the Dutch underground, saved the lives of an estimated 800 Jews from the Nazi SS during their occupation of the Netherlands. The ten Boon family were Christians and when a fellow Dutchman betrayed them, many of their family members were arrested and sent to German concentration camps– including 84-year-old Papa Casper, his three daughters, Corrie, Betsie, Nollie, his son and grandson. Several died in those concentration camps, including Casper and Betsie.
Corrie, the first licensed female watchmaker in Holland, was released from prison by a clerical error the week women her age were scheduled to die in the gas chambers. After the war she tried to go back to her trade but felt the call to spread the gospel of Jesus.
After she regained her health, she travelled to 60 nations, calling herself “a tramp for the Lord.” She talked often to audiences about forgiveness –sharing how she had forgiven those who caused such heartache in her family and nation. And how God’s Spirit enables you to forgive. Thousands came to know the Lord through her ministry, including prisoners, as she boldly went to even the most dangerous prisons to tell them of God’s love.
The Hiding Place, a popular book about her life, was later made into a movie. She died on her 91st birthday in April 1983 in California.
Footnote:
1. Illustration also included in Marching Orders for the End Battle, Corrie ten Boon, Christian Literature Crusade, London, 1969, p.33.
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