Similar to the fears we expressed in our previous post (yes today is a two-post day!) the terrible situation that Compassion International is facing in India today is particularly heart-wrenching because these kinds of decisions by those in power cause the powerless to suffer.
Today there are sponsors of approximately 147,000 children who have to grieve the loss of those relationships without ever having a chance of saying goodbye, never having known that their most recent letter would be their last, and not knowing the futures for sponsored children whom they have come to know and care for over years.
The feeling of absolute powerlessness is especially paralyzing in the face of such dire situations; sponsors do not have direct lines of contact with their children, efforts at advocating for change in government policies have been exhausted both domestically and internationally, and for those who are aware of the socio-economic situation in India, slipping into extreme poverty, vulnerability to trafficking and lifetimes of debt slavery are very real possibilities.
So, though our initial response is for the Lord to intervene, as in the case of King Herod who killed the apostle James and was struck dead and eaten by worms (Acts 12:23) we have to accept that God's response might look a little different this time.
And instead of building our stance from a single verse, we also admit that "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord ; he turns it wherever he will." Proverbs 21:1 and He "does not wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." 2 Peter 3:9.
These kinds of situations encounter the age old question head on; Why do bad things happen?!
And my response would generally be, "Beats the heck out of me!"
But as this India child sponsor shares in his response, we have to rest in the knowledge that while people with ill intent may be in positions of power, God IS IN CONTROL! He puts up rulers and takes them down, all the evil intentions against His ways will not stand, and maybe more reassuring than all of that, He cares infinitely more about each child that is now facing such despair than we ever could.
If these stories pluck a chord in our hearts, it tells us something significant; and it's not that we're SO great, it's that God has placed in us a heart for justice and compassion that is just a vague, cloudy representation of the purity of His justice and compassion.
So we ask that the difficulty turns us back to God and we won't rely on our own understanding to process these eternally significant circumstances with our finite minds.
And we should also approach God with words of praise for who He is. It can be hard, and we personally have choked out the words, "God is good", through clenched teeth during hardship, but there is a time for everything and at the end of it all, God has not changed.
If anyone is interested in reading more about the plight of the poor in India, Susi is currently reading this book by Saroo Brierley, a young man who was adopted from India. It is a very true and vivid account of one child's experience.
(It should be noted that to our knowledge, this was not written by a Christian author.)
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