Text of the week

In July 1928, a 22-year-old German pastor preached on Psalm 62.

He said: “Here pleasure becomes blessedness, longing finds its fulfilment, the hectic activity of the day finds rest in the protecting shadow of God’s hand, the burdens and troubles of the day fall away and become free and restful in the sight of God”.

He would be put to the test. He spoke out against Nazism.

Arrested in 1943, the oppressiveness on his spirit was real.

He felt “like a bird in a cage, struggling for breath, as though hands were encompassing my throat, hungry for colours, for flowers, for the voices of birds, thirsty for words of kindness, for neighbourliness, trembling with anger at despotisms”.

However, he concluded: “Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine”.

In April 1945, still a young man, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed on Hitler’s orders.

The day before his execution, he conducted an impromptu service for his fellow prisoners.

He chose as his texts: “With his stripes we are healed,” and “We have been born anew to a living hope.”

Immediately after, he was called out, and was heard to say: “This is the end – for me, the beginning of life.”

The Apostle Paul describes this peace as: “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding”.

It was true for Paul, true for Bonhoeffer, and can be true for anyone who puts their trust in God alone.

Iain Gibb,

Olivet Evangelical Church