Another Swap of Spies

Sam Hamstra | Jul 14, 2010

"Spies who had been facing years of incarceration in the US and Russia came in from the cold (this past Friday) as they traveled in opposite directions around the globe.” Ten headed eastward to Moscow and four, who had been in detention in Russia, began journeys to new lives in the West. “The extraordinary exchange unfolded... after all 10 spies, whose deep-cover ring had been blown open by US authorities nearly two weeks ago, pled guilty in a court in New York to operating illegally as agents of a foreign country.”

So wrote Shaun Walker in Moscow and David Usborne in New York in an article entitled "US-Russia spy swap under way after deep-cover agents admit guilt.” The article was posted on July 9, 2010 in The Independent World. Last week's exchange of spies reminded me of another that took place on October 11, 1963. On that day, the State Department swapped two accused Soviet agents for two Americans convicted and imprisoned on espionage charges. One of those Americans was Rev. Walter Ciszek, of Shenandoah, PA, a Jesuit missionary arrested in the USSR in 1941. This Polish-American pastor, who voluntarily chose to leave the comfort and peace of this country to spread the Gospel in Russia, spent 23 agonizing years in Soviet prisons and labor camps of Siberia.

During his time in prison, Father Ciszek (1904-1984) experienced a remarkable spiritual journey which he documents in two books, With God in Russia and He Leadeth Me. Not sure who led me to the latter book, but I thank the Lord someone recommended it to me.  And now I recommend it to you. In He Leadeth Me, Ciszek describes his spiritual journey while in prison. Here is a portion of his testimony (pages 76-78):

I had always trusted in God. I had always tried to find his will, to see his providence at work. I had always seen my life and my destiny as guided by his will. At some moments more consciously than at others, I had been aware of his promptings, his call, his promises, his grace. At times of crises, especially, I had tried to discover his will and to follow it to the best of my ability.  But, I had retained in my own hands the reins of all decisions, actions, and endeavors...I remained in essence the master of my own destiny. (page 76)

What (the Lord) wanted was for me to let go of the reins and place myself entirely at his disposal. He was asking of me an act of total trust, allowing for no interference or restless striving on my part, no reservations, no exceptions, no areas where I could set conditions or seem to hesitate.  He was asking a gift of self, nothing held back. (Such a move) demanded faith in God’s existence, in his providence, in his concern for the minutest detail, in his power to sustain me, and in his love protecting me. It meant losing the last hidden doubt, the ultimate fear that God (would not be there to bear me up).

I had talked of trusting him, indeed I truly had trusted him, but never in the sense of abandoning all other sources of support and relying on his grace alone. Only when I had reached a point of total bankruptcy of my own powers had I at last surrendered. (page 78)

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Comments

Dan said:

Those are really challenging words.

Hillsong’s “The Stand” boasts:

I’ll stand with arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the one who gave it all
I’ll stand, my soul, LORD, to you surrendered
All I am is yours

I wonder what it looks like to have my heart abandoned completely, each day, in the amazing and the blah of life. I worked at the restaurant for two hours today, and didn’t serve a single person at a table. But I think I served my co-workers. I wonder if in that, I served God?

Sometimes I think a prison might be necessary. It worked for Bonhoeffer!