“Thank God for the Fleas”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
1st Thessalonians is believed to be the earliest existing letter in the Bible that is written by the Apostle Paul.
It was written to a young church that was undergoing tremendous persecution, and they were mourning the loss of a number of their members.
It’s a letter of encouragement, and it’s a letter of how to keep faith, even amidst the most difficult circumstances of life.
And this faith has proven to enable people down through the ages to experience a joy and peace which are inexplicable, and beyond understanding.
One of the best examples of this is found in the book, The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom.
The Hiding Place contains the true story of the Ten Boom family who saved a number of Jews from the Nazis during World War 2 by hiding them in their home.
Eventually, the Ten Boom’s were caught and sent to a Concentration Camp themselves, where the entire family except for Corrie would die.
The book chronicles Corrie and her sister Betsie as they live out their faith in the death camp.
If you haven’t read the book, I highly recommend it.
I have to say, it is my favorite and I have read it a number of times.
When Corrie and Betsie are taken to their barracks at the concentration camp they are nearly overcome by what they face.
Their situation would threaten to drive anyone to absolute despair.
The quarters were terribly overcrowded, they had to sleep on horrible-smelling straw and the place was infested by fleas that drove them nearly crazy as they bit and bit and bit them incessantly.
They had miraculously been able to smuggle a Bible into the camp, and the Scripture verse we are looking at this morning proved to be God’s answer to Corrie’s question, “How can we live in such a place?”
“Show us, show us how,” Betsie started saying in such a matter-of-fact manner that Corrie didn’t realize her sister was praying.
The distinction between prayer and the rest of life had nearly vanished for Betsie.
“Corrie,” she said excitedly, “God’s given us the answer.
In the Bible this morning.”
And they re-read the words from 1 Thessalonians that we just read, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
With Betsie’s prompting, they gave thanks for everything about the barracks: the foul-smelling room, the jammed, crammed, stuffed, packed, and suffocating crowds of fellow prisoners,
and since it says to thank God in all circumstances, Betsie insisted they also thank God for the fleas.
Corrie thought this was too much.
“Betsie, there is no way even God can make me thankful for a flea.”
“Give thanks in all circumstances,’ Betsie quoted.
It doesn’t say, ‘In pleasant circumstances only.’
Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.”
And so, wrote Corrie, “we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas.
But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.”
(pause)
There is no doubt that life contains many horrible circumstances.
What difficulties are you facing this morning?
Where is your head at?
Is there anything that is threatening to drive you to the edge of despair?
On a quick reading, the instructions Paul gives in 1st Thessalonians 5 sound like instructions that someone might give to their child before dropping them off at another kid’s house: “Always be respectful.
Listen closely.
Pick up after yourself.
Say, ‘Please and thank you.’
Call me if you need anything.
In fact, just call me period.”
And the list goes on.
A lot of the time those words aren’t even heard and they have to be repeated over and over again…
…and they still might not get heard.
The same might go for us when reading Paul’s instructions…it might be sort of like when Charley Brown’s teachers’ voice goes, “Wah, wah, wah, wah, waah.”
We might not even hear the words.
But they take on a new meaning when we realize that the church they were written to had been grieving over the death of some of its members and some still faced a possible martyr’s death in the near future.
If we feel like we don’t have anything to be thankful for this year Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us the basis of thanksgiving even in the midst of grief and fear.
There is nothing that is out of the reach of God’s grace and power.
God is always faithful.
God’s love is with us forever.
Death, pain, suffering, and trouble do not get the final word.
We believe in and await a Savior Who has conquered death itself and therefore, through faith in Him, we can experience God’s peace even in the midst of what would seem to be hell on earth.
It’s been said that it is in the darkness that God’s truth shines most clearly, and I have experienced this.
There was a time when I really hit Rock Bottom.
And it was at Rock Bottom that I discovered something that amazed me and, changed my life forever.
In my loneliness, pain and despair I realized that Jesus was right there with me.
And that I could trust Him even though everything around me seemed to be crashing down.
Jesus was with me and that was all that mattered.
That was enough.
When I discovered this, I was so filled with excitement and joy that I called up a friend and said, “Rock Bottom isn’t so bad after-all because Jesus is here.”
We all have problems; we all have difficulties, but there is a “peace of God, which transcends all understanding,” which is available to us no matter the circumstances of our lives.
The word for this kind of peace shows up nearly 100 times in the New Testament.
And it has its roots in the Hebrew word “Shalom,” which is used a lot in the Old Testament.
Do you know this peace?
Our world is filled with horrible evil and catastrophic events.
And peace doesn’t mean that we ignore these things.
Peace isn’t saying, “Oh, everything will be fine. I’ll just sit back and close my eyes.”
Peace doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care for our safety and the safety of others.
Peace is acknowledging that the present circumstances may be bad, but we have the opportunity to live unafraid because of a hope that isn’t based on the political climate or what’s going on in the news, but rather a hope that rests in a relationship with the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.
There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who could paint the best picture of peace.
The picture that the king picked looked like this:
The mountains were bare and rocky.
Above them was an angry sky from which rain fell and lightening thundered.
Down the side of the mountain was a massive, rushing waterfall.
Behind the waterfall a tiny bush grew out of a crack in a rock.
In the bush a mother bird had built her nest.
There, in the midst of the rushing, angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest in perfect peace.
Someone asked the king why he picked this picture.
“Because,” explained the king, “peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work.
Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart.
This is the real meaning of peace.”
Do you trust God with your cares, your troubles, your hardships, your anxiety?
Is Jesus not only your Savior but your Lord and your companion as well?
It is often in the most difficult of circumstances that we are able to experience God’s presence the most.
In the concentration camp, Corrie and Betsie gave thanks to God, even for those horrible fleas.
Over the next couple of months, a wonderful, but curious thing happened, they found that the Nazi guards never entered their barracks.
This meant the women weren’t assaulted or raped.
It also meant that they were able to do the unthinkable, which was to hold open Bible studies in the heart of a Nazi concentration camp.
And because of this, the lives of the women they bunked with were radically changed.
Instead of arguing and complaining, there was actually laughter and joking, and caring and loving as the other women were transformed by a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Only at the end did they find out why the Nazi guards had left them alone.
They wouldn’t come into their barracks because of the fleas.
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances;” writes Paul, “for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.”
How do you get through whatever you are facing?
How do you have peace in the midst of terrible trials?
How do people keep their sanity when facing the most horrible evil known in the recent history of humankind?
And how do we live joyfully as we age, face oncoming death, and mourn the loss of loved ones?
How do we overcome despair when thrown into the darkness?
The only way to do it is through the gift of faith that God offers us.
Just saying or reading the words in 1st Thessalonians won’t do.
We must put them to action and live into them through the power of the Holy Spirit.
As I said, 1st Thessalonians is the earliest letter of Paul that we have.
Eleven years later he would write the following words to the Philippians from a Roman prison: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”
There can be no doubt that such trust and confidence, in the face of terrible circumstances, is challenging to think about.
But when we feel challenged, may we take a moment to remember Paul’s words.
And also remember the fleas in that terrible, horrible Nazi concentration camp and the faith that gave thanks to God anyway.
Let us pray:
Almighty God,
You know more than anyone what it is like experience the worst that this world can throw at You and to be able to come through it victoriously—conquering even the grave.
We thank you for what You have done for us.
We thank You for the incomprehensible love You have for us.
We thank You that You will never leave us nor forsake us.
And we thank You that You provide us with the tools to make it through difficult times with peace and even joy.
Help us to remember to “rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances;” for this is Your will for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
