When we see evil, when we encounter it personally, when we hear about it on the news, when we see a sign in a hotel lobby that tells us to be aware of human trafficking, we should resist the temptation to wallow in the brokenness of the world. Instead, we must lift our eyes up, see the Lord, and pray as David prays in Psalm 34 “All my bones will say, ‘Lord, who is like You, who rescues the afflicted from one who is too strong for him, and the afflicted and the poor from one who robs him?'”

This past weekend, my wife and I went on a babymoon staycation. On our way to dinner Saturday night, we shared an elevator with a young boy—he looked to be 5 or 6 years old—and his father. From the moment we stepped into the elevator until we got off, the boy huddled in the corner, weeping and shaking. He seemed genuinely terrified. Having our own six-year old boy, we were unsettled by the boy’s tears. They didn’t seem like normal sadness or frustration for a kid that age. These tears seemed to come from a place of genuine fear. I assumed the boy was afraid of the elevator. My wife thought the boy’s fear might be something more, particularly when she saw a sign by the hotel entrance warning of human trafficking and encouraging hotel guests to notify the staff if they see anything strange or unsettling involving children. Since my wife couldn’t shake the feeling that something was not right with that boy and the adult with him, we went to the front desk and reported what we’d seen. The staff member took notes and promised the hotel security look into it. Thankfully, they did investigate. Later that night, that same staff member notified me that they’d confirmed the child was with his father and had been upset for a benign reason. My wife and I were obviously relieved, and happy to have misjudged the situation. Still, there was something unsettling about the incident, particularly when paired with the sign warning about human trafficking displayed prominently by the hotel entrance. Clearly that sign exists because that area has had issues with human trafficking. And this wasn’t a run-down part of town. It was a Hyatt hotel in a nice neighborhood a little south of Los Angeles.  

Though the incident turned out not to be a case of human trafficking, it reminded me that truly heinous evil exists. Is there anything more wicked than the sexual exploitation of children? And tragically, it’s not rare. That kind of evil occurs every day, often close to where we live, work, and vacation. Reminded of that reality this weekend, I found myself asking the question: how should I respond to the world’s wickedness? Should I ignore it? Should I shrug my shoulders and tell myself there’s nothing I can do about it, so why bother? Or should I take the opposite approach? Should I invest every second of my life, every financial resource, and every ounce of my strength in confronting the world’s evil? More specifically, to combat human trafficking, do I need to financially support an organization that works to end it? Or do I have to quit my job and work for one of those organizations?  

While that might be God’s will for your life, I don’t think it’s his will for everyone. Some of us are supposed to be on the front lines, fighting to blunt the impact of the world’s wickedness. Others are supposed to work in business, education, politics, food service, hospitality, and entertainment.

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