By: Tammy McGuire, Ph.D., Professor of Communication

This is probably an old-person’s reference, but I’m wondering if you have ever read or heard of Corrie ten Boom’s book (also a movie), “The Hiding Place”? It’s the story of a Dutch family who hid Jews in their home during the Holocaust; the family was later arrested and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. Just Google Corrie ten Boom’s name and prepare to be inspired.

I read “The Hiding Place” when I was in college, and there is a very sad part of the story (no spoilers here) where Corrie ten Boom shares a quote from her sister Betsie that has always stuck with me – in part because for many years I really didn’t understand just what it meant. The line is this: “There is no hole so deep that God is not deeper.”

Today, however, I believe I understand the beauty, hope, and depth of that line much better. For example, I see its meaning reflected in the beautiful poetry of Psalm 139: 9, 10 (read the whole Psalm for more inspiration):

“If I take the wings of the morning,

Or dwell in the uttermost part of the sea,

Even there your hand will guide me, 

Your right hand will hold me.”

There is no joy too great where God is not with us. There is no sorrow too deep where God is not with us. We cannot descend to any depth where He will abandon us. This beautiful truth is woven throughout the Bible. As Paul puts it in Romans 8:38-39:

“For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life … nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God …”

We have gone and are going through difficult, painful, and even wrenching times. Many are facing sorrows and bereavements and anxieties whose depths may seem bottomless.  Amidst all this, the truth remains unchanged: There is no hole so deep that God is not deeper. There is no darkness that can extinguish His love. There is no place we can go where He is not willing and able to walk with us.

May this thought bring us comfort on our journeys.