Psalm 10

I find myself in a world—Honduras—where:

"Authorities estimated that 20 to 30 children (96 percent of them girls) crossed the border daily (approximately 15,000 a year) for purposes related to sexual exploitation" (U.S. State Dept. "Country Report")

10,000 children are prostituted and sexually exploited in Honduras each year. (Casa Alianza)

According to one study, 70% of the Honduran population believes that the child is the one responsible for the sexual exploitation; 5% blame the clients and offenders (Tamy Emma Pepin).

What can I say in front of that?

Every Thursday, the girls who live on campus have devotions together at night. We were reading Psalm 10—it is a Psalm
I have used to pray for the injustices in the world. What can I do? What can I say? The Psalms help me….

"Why, LORD, do you stand far off?
   Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

[Isn't that how I feel sometimes when I see all the injustices in the world? – God, I feel you are distant in the face of these statistics, in the face of these children who are hurting, in face of all of this junk in the world.]

In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
   who are caught in the schemes he devises.
…He says to himself, "Nothing will ever shake me."
   He swears, "No one will ever do me harm."

 His mouth is full of lies and threats;
   trouble and evil are under his tongue.
He lies in wait near the villages;
   from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
 like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
   he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
His victims are crushed, they collapse;
   they fall under his strength.
He says to himself, "God will never notice;
   he covers his face and never sees."

[Isn't that a great description of the horrors of trafficking and exploitation and abuse today? Are you good enough God to pay attention? To care? Are you powerful enough to do something?.... Because in the end, that is what it is all about. Those two questions—the power and love of God—are the hinges of so much of our questions, anger, and hope in God.]

 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.
   Do not forget the helpless.
Why does the wicked man revile God?
   Why does he say to himself,
   "He won't call me to account"?

[God—do something!!! Do something for those who are literally chained in brothels in Thailand; for the 12 year old who is pregnant by rape in Thailand; for the 10,000 children who are exploited each year in Honduras; for the 6 and 11 year old brothers who are selling themselves for sex on the street because they don't have a home… Do something! And a quote from Shane Claiborne comes to mind: in response to our cry of "Do something!" God says, "I'm asking the same thing. That is why the church is there on the earth right now. You are my hands and feet. Get busy." (paraphrased by memory from The Irresistible Revolution.]

But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
   you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
   you are the helper of the fatherless.
Break the arm of the wicked man;
   call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
   that would not otherwise be found out.

 The LORD is King for ever and ever;
   the nations will perish from his land.
You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted;
   you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
   so that mere earthly mortals
   will never again strike terror.

And like most Psalms—it ends in hope. Thanks be to God. It is the character of God to protect—after all, this is part of love, which is after God (1 Cor. 13). It is the character of God in which we base our hope. And as the Spirit transforms us more and more into His Image, His character, His help for the poor, His anger against injustice, His compassion, His power to help the defenseless, manifest through us.

Thank you, Lord, that you see. Thank you that you consider it, that you act on it. Thank you that you are powerful and loving. Thank you that you are just but yet you have mercy and grace on those who call on you. Thank you that you are King, that you are all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing, sovereign.

To Christ be the glory through the church forever and ever!