We watched a video in my sociology class this week about the sex trade in the Philippines. Teenage girls are sold to bars in which they are forced to give any guy who is willing to pay whatever he wants from them. My heart was overwhelmed and broken as I saw the kind of lives these young, helpless girls live. Some were locked in rooms no bigger than a closet, and were forced to give their bodies to one man after another. The women there are seen as property, and it is normal for a man to feel that he has the right to do with any woman whatever he chooses to. The Philippines is not the only place where this activity exists; it is all over the world!
After watching this video, I have struggled with two questions, and this is not the first time I have struggled with them:
1) Why does God allow this to happen?
2) Why did he choose for me to be born in America where I live a free and comfortable life rather than in the Philippines where I would be as a part of the sex trade?
I do not have the right answer, or even a good answer, for the first question. It doesn't seem fair to my human mind that these girls have to live this way. However, my ways are not God's ways, and my thoughts are not His thoughts. I know that God is sovereign, and I am confident that He works everything out for his glory. My only answer is that He will ultimately receive the glory from what these girls must endure. There is a bigger purpose in what is happening that my human mind cannot see or understand.
I don't have a good answer to the second question either. Why aren't I one of the girls in the Philippines? Why did God allow me to be born to a family that loves me and cares for me and provides for me. It is only by His grace that I am where I am, but why? My only answer is that God blesses us in order that we may bless others. He does not provide for us so that we will indulge in what we have; yet this is what we are guilty of. I believe that He provides for us so that we can use what He gives us to help others in need. Many people choose to be ignorant of those in need around them, but ignorance is no excuse. As children of God, we have a responsibility to help those in need.
I don't know what I can do to help these girls in the Philippines. I want so badly to rescue them from that life and to share with them about the love of Christ. The one thing I know I can do is pray. I can pray that God will provide a way out for these girls; I can pray that God will protect them and wrap his arms around them;I can pray that God will use me; most importantly, I can pray that these girls come to know Jesus as their Savior.