Don’t Look the Other Way!

This week’s post is shorter than usual, but I trust it will encourage you as it has me. In 2018, I am reading the Bible through chronologically. I finished reading Leviticus recently. I must admit it isn’t one of my favorite books. Nevertheless, I noticed something in Leviticus that comforted me because it revealed God’s judgment against idolatry and His heart of justice for crimes against children.

According to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Molech was the national deity of the Ammonites in the Old Testament whose worship included parents sacrificing their own children in the fire to this idol! The Israelites were forbidden from participating in such sacrifices. Leviticus 20:4-5 reveals how God expected the members of the community to respond if they became aware that someone had committed such a terrible act.

These verses reveal God’s just character and His expectation that members of a community hold offenders accountable too. When your child has been sexually abused, it’s devastating. When other members of the family or friends in the community minimize your pain, due to the discomfort it causes them, or side with the abuser, either explicitly or implicitly by acting as if nothing has happened, it’s even more devastating. It can be “crazy-making” when those closest to you fail to acknowledge that a serious crime has been committed.

This passage helps me to remember how much God cares when children are victimized, and it reminds me that He really does expect us to care too by not looking the other way! April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Child Abuse Prevention month.  Here are two practical ways we can show our support during the month of April:

1. We can educate ourselves about the responsibility all adults have to help prevent childhood sexual abuse. A great prevention resource is Darkness to Light’s online training. I took this course recently and it was excellent.
2. We can assist nonprofit organizations that educate the community and serve survivors by making a donation in memory or in honor of a survivor we know and love.

By working together and refusing to look the other way, we can help protect children and hold those who harm them accountable in keeping with God’s character.