“My Beloved”

I am currently working with a Christian organization who longs to bring freedom to those caught in the web of sex slavery. There are currently approximately 27,000,000 people who are victims of human trafficking, in a 31 billion dollar industry, and over 75% of them are used as sex slaves. For the past two months I've been working with others to put a traveling art show together, and for my part of the presentation I painted a piece and I will be sharing this story that I assembled straight out of the books of Lamentations and Isaiah in the Bible. The last paragraph is an expression of my heart! I know in writing this I connected to it so deeply on a soul level, as I think everyone can. These are words straight up out of the bible, so everyone should connect to them in their own life and heart! I love you guys!!


She who was queen among provinces has now become a slave. Bitterly she weeps at night. Among all her lovers there is none to comfort her, all her friends have betrayed her, and have become her enemies. They looked at her and laughed at her destruction.

All who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and looks away. Her filthiness clings to her skirt; she does not consider her future.

“Look, O Lord, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!”

The enemy has laid hands on all her treasures; pagan nations enter her sanctuary, those who had been forbidden to enter. She barters her treasures for food to keep herself alive.

“Look, O Lord, and consider, for I am despised!”

For this is why her tears flow like a river day and night. No one is near to comfort her, no one to restore her spirit. Her groans are many and her heart is faint.

All who passes her way clap their hands at her; they scoff and shake their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem. Wasn’t she the one that was called perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth?

Her enemy has walled her in so she cannot escape; he has weighed her down with chains. He has made her path crooked. Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, he dragged her from her path, mangled her, and left her without help.
He drew his bow and made her the target for his arrows. He has broken her teeth with gravel and has trampled her in the dust. Her heart is now filled with bitter herbs.

So she says, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord!”
She was brighter than snow and whiter than milk, her body more flush than rubies, her appearance like sapphires. But now she is blacker than soot; she is not recognized in the streets. Her skin has shriveled on her bones.

She can no longer hear the music. Joy is gone from her heart. Her dancing has turned to mourning, and because of these things her eyes grow dim. Her wound is as deep as the sea, who can heal her?

Her heart cries out to the Lord:

“You, O Lord, risen forever, your throne endures from generation to generation. Why did you forget me? Why do you forsake me so long? Restore me, O Lord, unless you have utterly rejected me!”

The Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all who call on him! How gracious he is when he hears a cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer.

This is his heart’s cry:

“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed!”

The Lord longs to be gracious to those who cry for help; he rises to show them compassion.

Hear the cry of the Lord’s heart for his beloved!

“I am your redeemer, who formed you in the womb! Turn to me and be saved; for I alone am God, there is no other! I will shield and deliver you, I will pass over and rescue you. Be strong, do not fear; I will come with vengeance; with divine retribution I will come to save you. For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear, I will help you. I will lead you by ways you have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide you; I will turn the darkness into light before you and make the rough places smooth.

Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine, and are precious in my sight. Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. I will restore you! I will rebuild you!

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. I will make your deserts like Eden, your wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in you, thanksgiving and the sound of singing!

For your sake I will not keep silent, for your sake I will not remain quit, till your righteousness shines out like the dawn and your salvation like a blazing torch. I will not forsake you!

This is our Lord’s heart for the world:

“I, the Lord, love justice! My justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, and my salvation is on the way! The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon!

You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, for I, the Lord, have created it!”

There is hope!! There is hope for the prisoners and the oppressed! The hope is in the Lord, the savior and redeemer of this world!! He longs to bring justice to the world, to those who are entangled in the web of slavery, and even to those who have thrown themselves into rebellion against God, but Jesus says the workers are few. He is the head, and we are the body - his hands and feet. He longs for those who are willing to go and do his work. He is waiting for us to say, “Not my will God, but yours be done!” God knows how to get the work done, and he longs to bring justice to the nations, but he needs us. He has given us that authority. Are you willing to do your share? Are you saying yes to God and his plans for you, to bring justice to the nations?