This is a post I had written last month, but as we approach the official beginning of the Redeemed series focusing on human trafficking next week, I thought it would be worthwhile to look at this again.

Back when I read and reviewed Zealous Love: A Practical Guide to Social Justice by Mike and Danae Yankoski, the issue of human trafficking seemed to reach out of the book and smack me in the face.  It’s something I had heard about… but really hadn’t allowed myself to think about.  There are millions of men, women, and children enslaved around the world – it’s almost too much to comprehend.

In one of the sections on trafficking in Zealous Love, a man who works with the International Justice Mission shared his experiences working with victims of trafficking in Thailand. Their first case involved freeing a woman named Elisabeth who was being held in a brothel against her will after being deceived with the promise of a good job.

This passage from the book (pg 28-29) moved me deeply:

Shortly after the operation [when they had freed her from the brothel], I was sitting at my desk when one of my staff members showed me a picture of a wall inside the tiny room where Elisabeth had been locked up at the brothel. There was something written on the wall in tiny letters, and I asked a coworker to translate it for me.  It was Psalm 27:1-3 NLT-

The Lord is my light and my salvation, so why should I be afraid?

The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?

When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.

Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid.

Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.

Elisabeth had written these words on the wall of her room, a visible reminder of her daily prayer for God to rescue her from the brothel.

Sitting at my desk, thinking about the evil that had been perpetrated in that tiny room, the power of the Psalmist’s words flooded over me, and I broke down and wept. Of all the girls trafficked into Thailand, we had rescued one who was praying for deliverance…

Never have I been more powerfully reminded that the work of social justice is God’s work, and we are simply his tools to get it done. Though we face mighty armies, our hearts will know no fear.