My wife and I had a retired judge and his wife over to the house the other night, along with a couple of their friends. They wanted to see a film that we have featuring one of the Rapha girls telling her story about being sex trafficked.
Following the film, they were unsettled and said, “We live such sheltered lives here in America, we had no idea that things like this were happening in the world.” And then the judge said, “It makes you wonder…” he paused for a moment of self-editing and then voiced his thoughts aloud by saying, “…why doesn’t God do something about this?”
I told him that I used to think the same way. My protests over the evil and suffering in the world were well rehearsed. Until one day, God brought me up short. In the midst of my questioning, God impressed His gentle reply upon my spirit: “Why don’t you do something about this?” There I stood before the Judge without a defense.
Think about it. How did God eradicate all the suffering caused from polio? He used a man like Jonas Salk. How did God answer the evil of Nazism? He used the Allied forces, many paying the ultimate sacrifice. This amazing, albeit mysterious, God allows us to shape the future to a large degree. He gives us the freedom to determine the type of world in which we’ll live.
I then asked the judge a simple question: “Do you want to live in a world where millions of children are trafficked?” I waited for his verdict. His answer is of small consequence here. The only thing that matters is how you'll answer that question.
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 82:3,4)
