One of my goals for the world race is to do a lot of things for the first time. One of my ‘firsts’ is reading the whole Bible all the way through. I have been reading the book of Amos this month and it is unexpectedly blowing my mind.
Amos is one of those small books in the middle of your bible that, at first glance, isn’t applicable to everyday life at all. Everything it talks about seems so far and so distant from my reality and the nice bubble I live in. However, this book actually helped me to see the heart-breaking world we live in in a different light.
A really hard truth that I have had to realize is that I will never be able to understand the lifestyle or life stories of the people I have met, both in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti. But Amos made me realize that I don’t have to.
One of the most earth-shattering things I have ever had to witness is the sex-trafficking and ruthless objectification of women here. It is in-your-face, it’s un-challenged, and it’s horrifying. I watched countless young girls be led into hotels, beautiful faces be ignored while they were talked to through google-translate, and strong women be looked at as pieces of material, only enjoyable for a moment.
The more women I meet here, and the better I get to know the incredible women on my team, I can only be amazed at the power, beauty, and worth that God has instilled, not only in girls, but in all human life. People are the church. People are the image of the glory of God. People are wildly incredible and important.
Amos was a prophet in the old testament that was instructed to proclaim to Israel the things that God couldn’t tolerate and would deal judgement on. Reading through these things was difficult at first. It’s hard to hear that your Father could be so cruel or so full of wrath. But when I looked at the things that God hates, the things He pours His wrath on, I was full of awe. God doesn’t pour out wrath because He enjoys it. It’s with the sole purpose of loving and protecting His children.
God’s heart breaks when people dominate other people. When they treat them as ‘less than’ or ‘nothing’. (Amos 1:3)
God weeps when brother’s break their covenant and families betray each other. (Amos 1:9)
God rises up to fight against perpetual unrighteousness, anger, and violence. (Amos 1:11)
God hates vicious and cruel treatment of women and children. (Amos 1:13)
My incredible squad leader, Lucie, said to me, “The most cruel thing the Lord could be is passive.” It’s hard to think that the One that loves me most could be so powerful and full of anger, but imagine what it would be like if He turned a blind eye to sin. Imagine what life would be like if God didn’t fight against it with all His anger and wrath. If sex-trafficking breaks my small, limited, and tiny heart, think of what God’s reaction to it is. If seeing a woman belittled and trapped makes my eyes burn with tears, what does the Lord feel? I am so incapable of a pure love that would fight and sacrifice to stop injustice, but that’s why I have to fight to tell of the gospel. That because the Lord looked into my heart and saw how broken I was, and looked into every heart in all the earth, He couldn’t not do something about it. The creatures He loved the most would spend eternity without him suffering, and HE chose to sacrifice for them. When we were stuck in the sin and wickedness of the world, He put on the most glorious and magnificent display of LOVE the world had ever seen.
So, while I may never be able to understand the ways these hearts have broken and these lives have suffered, God does. He understands every consequence and effect the trauma has had and He isn’t doing nothing about it. He has given everything for it. And now I just get to fight alongside my Father who is gentle enough to encourage me daily, and powerful enough to reach in and rescue the women who are enslaved by the evil in this world. He is good enough to do that.
