Whittaker Chambers was a household name in post-WWII America. He testified against fellow communist, Alger Hiss, in the “spy trial of the century” (1950). Despite his brush with infamy, he had reasons to be thankful.
Thankfulness is not easy. It takes humility to acknowledge a debt. Pride stands in the way of gratitude to God. “Even though they knew God,” the Bible warns, “they did not honor Him as God or give thanks” (Rom. 1:21). Gordon MacDonald writes, “Thankfulness… comes with the realization that I neither earned nor am entitled to blessings. At best, I am a graced recipient of all that I am and have.”
Chambers’ 1952 memoir, “Witness,” is a story of thankfulness inspired by experiences beyond his control. He found courage to leave communism and defect from the Soviet underground because of a specific encounter with God. Early one morning, he stopped in the darkened hallway of his home. He was troubled about his situation and afraid for his family. In that moment he sensed “God holding me in silent assurance and untroubled peace,” he writes. “It never left me because I no longer groped for God; I felt God.” Gone was “the whole web of the materialist modern mind which it has spun about the spirit of man, paralyzing in the name of rationalism the instinct of his soul for God.” He adds, “I only knew that I had promised God my life, even, if it were His will, to death. This is my ultimate witness.”
He knew the Soviet “apparatchik” would secure his permanent silence if they could. Extreme precautions were in order. He secreted his wife and two small children to a remote house in the Maryland countryside away from Washington, D.C. They told no one, not even family.
The loneliness and stress of hiding took its toll. Chambers began to trust a business executive, Noel, who gave him work. Chambers gave Noel his contact information and admitted his defection from communism. Late one evening, Noel invited Chambers to meet in private. To Chambers’ shock, Noel revealed he was a communist. Chambers’ fright turned to relief when Noel simply admitted, “I admire what you have done.” Chambers observes, “All my precautions had not saved me. I had been saved. How silly to suppose that any man by his own efforts can ever save himself.” How true, in more ways than one.
I share this story “so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 4:15). Chambers was a thankful witness to God’s saving grace. God met Chambers amidst the chaos, giving peace and new life that only He can. If that is your story then you, too, have cause to be a thankful witness.