Longing for Judgement

Has anything created a longing for justice in you recently?

As I was preparing for my sermon last week I watched some videos online having to do with modern day slavery. I saw one video with a teen girl who had been kidnapped at 11 or 12 from her village in Cambodia and enslaved in the sex trade. Kept in these dingy little rooms her virginity sold three times. The slavers sewed her up twice. If she refused to "serve her clients" she was tied up with a live wire around and inside of her and she was tortured with electric shocks. Finally she refused and the madam of the brothel took out her eye with a pencil. Now disfigured she was useless to the brothel and was turned out into the street. In the interview with CNN she was in a shelter run by a woman who had been rescued when she was young from the same bondage.

There are many other stories like this online and in our world today. For Americans the most shocking part of this problem is it exists here as well. This is not just a third world, far removed problem. There were 12 brothels discovered within a 20 mile radius of the White House.

In Chap 24 Job cries, “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?" This is not usually a phrase we hear coming out of our mouths. We usually think of the judgment of God as something to be feared. Why would we want the judgment of God to come down on our heads? Job shares a precious truth with us in these words. Those who follow God, like Job, have nothing to fear in God's judgment. In fact we have vindication and salvation to long for in God's judgment. Job goes on to describe the situation of the poor and enslaved, naked though they work weaving clothe, hungry though they gather the sheaves of wheat, thirsty though they tread the wine press. Job knows one day the oppressor will be judged and come to nothing and he is asking why God withholds this day.

If we are paying attention to what is happening in the world today we would pray for the same thing. Judgment for the oppressor and vindication for the oppressed. As I read this the need struck me for God's final judgment yes, but also for the part we have to play.

The videos I was watching on CNN were in connection with the people who were engaged in setting the prisoners free. Does that phrase sound familiar to anyone? It should! It's one of the lines of the mission statement of Jesus the messiah. He came to enable the lame to walk, the blind to see, cast out demons, and set the prisoners free. International Justice Mission (IJM) is just one of the modern day abolitionist movements out there. While we will not be able to accomplish the fulfillment of absolute freedom as Christ will when he returns, we have our part to play now.

I encourage you to check out IJM and other movements like it and find out what you can do. A group of high school students at Portland Adventist Academy is currently organizing and student group to do what they can to fight modern day slavery. There are many other causes as well; fighting world hunger and poverty, digging wells for clean water, and sponsoring a child or a hundred children.

As we long for the vindication and complete deliverance of God, may we do our part in the fight against injustice. May the blinders be removed so we might be moved enough to act.