Daily Devotions
During my days at Concordia, Milwaukee, our German professors made the class interesting by having us translate German books. One of the writings we had to decipher was the touching and very personal, “Diary of Anne Frank.”
Many of you remember the story of the young Jewish girl who, with her family, was forced to hide from the Nazis. You may also recall how Anne’s story ended with her 1945 death in a concentration camp.
Having known Anne’s story for so long, I was surprised when I heard that the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City recently added another chapter to Anne’s saga. Papers found in 2005 showed that Anne’s father had asked a friend to loan him money and help his family obtain the visas that would allow him to move to the United States or Cuba.
According to the papers, the man tried to help the Frank family from April to December of 1941. Unfortunately, the efforts of Anne’s father and his friend were too little too late. Mr. Frank didn’t start trying to escape Amsterdam until a year after the Nazis had invaded his country. By then, the Nazis were shutting the borders to immigration, and the United States was showing a reluctance to accept refugees. In 1942, the Franks had to go into hiding where they stayed until they were discovered two years later.
I immediately thought of the words of Ecclesiastes 9:12 when I read that story. The Franks were like fish caught in an evil net and birds in a snare. Anne was a child who was snared by an evil that suddenly fell upon her. The writer of Ecclesiastes concludes, “Man does not know his time.” Don’t those words describe somebody you know? How about the young mother who has been diagnosed with cancer, the man who has lost his seemingly secure position, or the retirees who are dealing with Alzheimer’s? We don’t know our time, and we can’t anticipate all the things that can go wrong. We can’t plan for all the evil that is out there waiting to trap us.
This is precisely why the ongoing presence of the forgiving, gracious Lord is so very important. When we are weak, He is strong. When we fail and fall, He remains standing. When we are afraid, He will provide comfort. I could go on and on, but it is easier to join the Hebrews writer who discovered unknown possibilities when he said, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” Hebrews 13: 6.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, sin and Satan constantly try to trap and ensnare us. Please stay with us, and keep us from their traps. Please send Your Holy Spirit and free those who have already been trapped by temptation and tragedy. In Your Son’s Name. Amen.