Tune My Heart
"On the twenty-third day of the seventh month [the king] sent the
people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity that
the Lord had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel His people."
~ 2 Chronicles 7:10 ESV
In May 2004, Helen Berhane was taken into custody by Eritrean authorities after refusing to sign a document asserting that she would not practise her Christian faith. Helen understood that imprisonment, solitary confinement and torture awaited her if she did not comply with the governing officials' demands. The pressure to recant her faith did not cease when Helen ended up in a prison camp; it only intensified.
During her incarceration, Helen was repeatedly kicked and beaten with a baton. Her prison cell was a metal shipping container where the day's scorching heat and the night's freezing temperatures were almost too much to bear. Helen was totally isolated from the outside world and could not even contact her family – including her young daughter Eva.
As a devout Christian, Helen always turned to Christ for strength, even while in prison. Despite facing terrible ordeals for refusing to renounce her faith as commanded by the Eritrean authorities, Helen, a well-known Gospel singer in Eritrea, began to sing songs of joy. Her place of exile became a sacred space for worship and praise to the "King of kings." You can read of Helen's inspiring journey of trust, forgiveness and worship – along with the remarkable testimonies of 11 other women of faith – in the book, Hearts of Fire 2.1
The persecuted Christians I meet worldwide often amaze me with their deep joy. When I ask them to share their stories, they usually start by explaining how they came to understand God's goodness through Jesus Christ, and then express hearts of gratitude that His Holy Spirit drew them to this realization. Such testimonies of God's grace are like delightful songs that play in the background of their sufferings, filling their hearts with joy and gladness.
I often ask myself, what song do I sing in the night? How does my heart respond when I am offended, ridiculed and maligned? Is the state of my heart dependent on the condition of my well-being or external circumstances? Can I offer up a song of trust and faith amid the dismal setting of suffering and injustice? To these questions, I can only pray, "Oh, Lord, 'tune my heart to sing Thy grace.'"2
Endnotes:
1 To order the book, Hearts of Fire 2, go to: Store.VOMCanada.org/purchase/hearts-of-fire-2
2 Lyrics from the hymn, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, by Robert Robinson
