From Confusion To Christ

Now behold, I have two daughters

who have not had relations with man;

please let me bring them out to you,

and do to them whatever you like;

only do nothing to these men,

inasmuch as they have come

under the shelter of my roof.

Genesis 19:8

When I was around twenty-four, I purchased a new Bible because I was going to read through the Bible from beginning to end. When I read this verse I became angry. I was appalled that this was in the Bible. I was appalled that a man could offer his two virgin daughters to a mob to be abused. I was angry with God for this to even be recorded in His Word, and when I came to Judges 19:22–26 and read of the abuse of a man’s concubine, I put my Bible down and could read no further for days. I was hurt and confused. I didn’t understand. I had experienced rape, and the attitudes, the hearts of these men, made me nauseous.

After a while, God moved me to pick my Bible back up and continue my journey. I know now that it was the sweet whispers of the Holy Spirit drawing me with His “bonds of love” (Hosea 11:4). It was as if Jesus was standing at the door of my heart, knocking, and when I opened His Word to seek understanding from Him about what I had read, it was as if I also opened the door to my heart.

By the time I read to 1 Chronicles, I realized I was lost. I knew about God, but I did not know God. I realized that my heart had never been changed. I had never surrendered my life to Christ. He was no more my Lord than He was the Lord of the men who heartlessly abused these women. I needed Christ just as much as these men who made me nauseous needed Him.

These men were living out the effects of a diseased heart, a depraved mind, and a dead spirit. The sad thing is that all around the world there are men and women still subjected to this type of behavior. Nations without Christ place little importance on life and on innocence. Nations that suppress the truth in unrighteousness are filled with all kinds of darkness.

There is no end to the depravity of our minds without Christ. There is no limit to the evil deeds that we can commit when we turn our backs on God. We can point our fingers at others, but we must first point our fingers at ourselves.

We must stop comparing ourselves to others and compare ourselves to the standard of God’s righteousness. When we do, we see how greatly we need Him. We also see how desperately He is calling out to us, wooing us, beckoning us to him. We also can see how desperately the world needs him.

All around the globe, women are still experiencing the treatment we read about in Genesis 19:8. I wish fewer women would rally around the pro-choice agenda and more would rally around the global treatment of women, of young girls, as human beings. For “in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27).

What I have also learned through the Scriptures is that God does not enslave. God does not keep ignorant. God encourages freedom. He encourages intelligence. He created us in His image, and His desire is that we walk in Him—in His light, in His wisdom, and in His knowledge. Those who claim that believers in God are ignorant, weak, and foolish need to re-examine their history. Without the light of God, this world is a very dark place.

Oh Father,

What a privilege it is to be able to go in and share the love of Christ with women who have never known the value and worth that they hold in Your eyes; to be able to share with them that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Even if the world around them does not change, if they knew the truth, the reality of the depths of Your love, if they knew their true worth, oh Father, they could rejoice, no matter their outward circumstance. Oh Father, I lift these women up to You. I know not their names, not their countries, not their exact circumstances, but you do. Oh Father, may your Holy Spirit sweetly whisper in their ears and may You draw them with your bonds of love.

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

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