The Nameless, Faceless Child

I couldn't stop it.  I couldn't help him. 

I could hear the crack of the whip.  

I could hear him scream. 

I could hear a woman hurling insults.  

Other people were there, the sounds of an angry mob.   No one was helping him.   

This was a spectator event.  

It was just on the other side of our shared wall.  He was just outside my reach.  I couldn't see what was happening through the thick palm branches, but it sounded like hell was coming down next door.  

The neighbor kid who I usually hear giggling and calling us blan was being disciplined beyond what any person should ever endure.  The longer it went on, the more I truly began to fear for his life.  The woman was out of control.  

Ten minutes.  Fifteen.  Twenty.  Screaming and whipping. 

Jesus make it stop.  Make it stop.  Stop her in Jesus' name.  Should I throw something over the wall?  

It wasn't stopping.  I was ready to climb over the wall and turn the whip on the whipper.  The child needed to be rescued.  

Others could hear the screams too.  The men who live on the property came out and knew we needed to help.  We were all aware that stepping in could heap trouble on our heads, but we couldn't turn a blind eye.  Gently, one of the boys climbed to the top of the wall and spoke kindly to the neighbors.  "Mesamis, mesamis, ou ap fè timoun lan mal."  More yelling but the whipping stopped.  The offenders knew they had been exposed.  

Our friend climbed down from the wall, knowing that he had done what was right.  With a quivering lip and a shell-shocked look on his face, he gave us the report of what he could see: the child had been stripped naked, bound at the wrists, and was being beaten while clinging to a tree.  

It was over for the moment.  I pray it didn't continue once they went inside, in the unseen.  

These people have lived on the other side of our wall for a full year, and I don't know this child's name, I don't know this child's face.    But I do know he needs a rescuer.  

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“Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of My people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I know about their sufferings. I have come down to rescue them... Therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭3:7-10‬ ‭

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This experience with the child I could hear, but not see, was the closest I've been to understanding the suffering of the Israelites enslaved and abused in Egypt.  God, unlike man, both SAW their abuse and HEARD their misery.  Moved with compassion for them, The Lord said,  "I am going to rescue them from the hands that oppress them."   He sent in help, Moses, to lead them to a wide open space, and to a better land which He promised.  

It still amazes me that God's chosen instrument is often a flawed, incapable human being.  Moses knew his limitations, and struggled with doubt.  However, God's plan for redemption would not be hindered by the smallness of any man.  Those miserable people were GOD'S people, and He was coming to the rescue.  

You see, it's wasn't Moses' power that rescued anyone.  Moses didn't rain down gnats, frogs or locusts.  Moses didn't turn any river into blood. Moses didn't darken the sun or kill any firstborn sons.  He certainly didn't part the Red Sea.   Moses wasn't the rescuer.  God says in Exodus 3, "I have come down to rescue them...".  It was the Lord who did the rescuing.  So what was Moses' job?  Verse 10 says:  "now go. I am sending you to lead my people...". 

God---> Rescuer

Moses---> Leader

Moses had no power of his own.  But because Moses was willing to do his part, he had the privilege of having a front row seat to the power of God.  

Moses said YES to being used by God, and his faith triumphed over his fear.  Despite risks, danger, and certainly humiliation, Moses was an instrument used by God to accomplish the deliverance of many people from suffering and pain.  

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So here's the deal. I can't ignore what I witnessed last night.  But I'm scared and feeling terribly small.  Incapable.  Vulnerable.  How can I help that kid?  How can I help that family?  

Can I take a peace offering of rice and beans?  Was that kid being punished for stealing food?  Can I help with their hunger so he doesn't have to steal?  

These are the scenarios that kept me up much of the night.  

Was that kid a restavek?  Was he being disciplined for not doing his job?  Had he tried to escape?  Did anyone love that child?

Even worse--is that family deep into voudou and was that child part of some depraved ritual?  I've heard the drums over the wall before.  

I don't know the truth of what really happened next door last night.  I don't know what offense he could have possibly committed to deserve such a horrible beating.  No child, no human being deserves being stripped naked, bound, and whipped in such a way.  

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And yet, one man willingly took the whipping upon Himself.  He too was stripped naked, bound, and brutally beaten while clinging to a tree.  He didn't deserve it.  But He took it.  He took it because He is THE rescuer.  

Jesus carried the same power that brought deliverance to the Israelites, the same might that rescued them from their oppressors.  Being fully God, Jesus could have ended the persecution with one breath... but He didn't.  He took it.  

Why???  Why?  

Because just as in Exodus, God had seen the misery of His people--the suffering and pain caused by the depravity of sin.  He had known before the beginning of time that His people would need to be rescued from their sin, and He had a plan.  His plan had a name, the most beautiful name, Jesus.  Jesus, who had all the power of God, but was humiliated, naked, bruised and whipped on that tree--did it willingly to rescue us from our sin.   

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We have all seen and heard of terrible things.  Abused children, devastating hurricanes, painful divorces, sickness and death, the list goes on.  It's overwhelming.

But God.  He has sent a powerful rescuer in advance--Jesus--and charged His followers with the responsibility of leading the suffering to the only One who can truly save them.  

The depravity I witnessed last night snapped me back into attention and held my lukewarmness to the fire.  The pain that child endured was a fresh reminder of the pain Jesus willingly took for me, for you, for that child, for that child's abuser.  

So no matter the measure of my fear, I have to carry the name of Jesus to the hurting just outside my door.  He's the only One with the power to save. 

You don't have to look far to find the pain caused by sin.  They may be nameless and faceless to you right now, but there is someone right outside your door that needs the Rescuer too.  

"Therefore, go."