“It’s too much.”
That’s what we said when we first heard about sex trafficking. We said it again later, when we met real boys who’d endured real atrocities in an entire industry built on abuse. We cried and prayed again, “Lord, it’s too much!”
Too much pain. Too much evil. Too much innocence destroyed. Too much for young boys to overcome. Our hearts ache and our stomachs turn and we want to turn away and look instead at prettier things, but we can’t because…it’s too much.
And into the “too much,” God says, “Enough.” He answers the overwhelming lack with His overwhelming sufficiency. He silences the injustice with His justice. And He does all this in one word: redemption.
In scripture, our word “redemption” is two Hebrews words. The first one means to exchange something of no value for something of value. It’s a transaction word. In Jesus Christ, God takes a life destroyed by evil and exchanges it for something beautiful. He brings beauty from ashes.
Redemption also means, simply, “near,” as in, a close relative, or the next of kin. In all the pain—right there in the midst of all the atrocities—the Lord is there. The Redeemer God is near.
“It’s too much!” we cry.
“But I am enough,” He responds.
Redeemed.