Daily Devotions
Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. Genesis 37:28
You, like me, have probably never met a Midianite trader.
Even so, that doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there who, like those biblical traders, are willing to sell children for a profit.
One such man is Binoy Tripura of Bangladesh. Tripura went to poverty-stricken Christian parents and, for a payment of $183, promised to take their children to a missionary school in the city of Dhaka. That was his promise. His intent was to sell the children to various Islamic schools called, “madrassas.”
From many other children who in this past year were rescued from a similar situation, we know that these schools would give the children Muslim names, make them study the Qur’an, force them to pray Muslim prayers, and learn Arabic. If the children refused, they were beaten with live electric wires, starved, locked in small closets, and verbally abused.
Such a fate was spared these children because some of them realized something was wrong as they traveled to Dhaka. Twelve of them escaped, called their parents who got help from the university at Dhaka. The Dhaka University students rescued the remaining six children.
Now we may never have met a Midianite trader, but that doesn’t mean we are free from men who, like those traders, are willing to traffic in the bodies and souls of Christian children.
Are you horrified? I should think! Do you feel helpless? Please don’t.
Remember, we have a Lord who can change things. Thousands of years ago, the Lord took the jealous act of Joseph’s brothers and transformed that evil into something good. That same Lord is in control today.
Jesus, through His words, has shown how much He loves those little ones. More than that, His substitution and sacrifice have made it possible for all the world’s children to be saved. The cause of saving these young ones is a cause to which we Christians, who live in relative safety, ought to dedicate ourselves.
To that end, I encourage your prayers.
First, let us give thanks we live in a land where the Gospel can be preached freely. Let us rejoice that although some of us are poor, we have, for the most part, avoided the crushing poverty which might force us to entrust our children into the care of the unscrupulous.
Finally, let us pray the Lord will do all that is necessary to prevent such a horrible plan from ever being successful. And if such a plan is successful, may He bring good out of the evil men have done.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, watch over all the children of the world and let them see the Savior who loves them. Today I pray especially for the protection of Christian children, who are being preyed upon by the deceitful. May the children be kept safe and be saved. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.