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Abuse isn’t just physically harmful to a child – although every year 80,000 Latin American children die of abuse-related injuries in their own homes. Adults who have survived child abuse are often haunted by fear, mistrust and poor relationships with their own spouses and children. It’s a crime that affects multiple generations.
But God has something to say to abused children:
“I offered my back to those who beat me …
I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
He who vindicates me is near.” (Isaiah 50:6,7)
What God wants abused children to know is this: You have value. You should not be ashamed. Hold on to me, and I will protect you in a way that surpasses the physical. I love you and want you to be safe and happy.
But, amazingly, in the same book we also find some words for those who perpetrate abuse:
“’Lift up your eyes and look around;
all your sons gather and come to you.
As surely as I live,’ declares the LORD;
‘you will wear them all as ornaments;
you will put them on, like a bride.’” (Isaiah 49:18)
In many cases people abuse children because of violence in their own past. Their own eyes are cast down with shame because of the disrespect and violence they experienced during their own childhood. Often they’re ashamed and frustrated because of unemployment or substance abuse. In many tragic cases, parents take out their anger on a child they never wanted, the product of rape or a forced marriage.
But what God wants is for parents to take pride in their children! Think of a bride, showing off her engagement ring to all her admiring friends. That’s exactly how God says parents should feel about their children. They are the crown of a marriage and the joy of their parents and are to be prized like precious jewels!
God is exhorting abusive parents to be released from whatever shame is causing them to abuse their children; to change their ways and be immensely proud of what he’s blessed them with.
That’s why Viva is working with parents, project workers and community leaders in places like Cambodia, Nepal, Uganda, and all over Latin America. Where children aren’t valued by society, it’s hard for individual parents to learn otherwise. So our city-wide networks are showing parents how to prevent and report abuse, and are also offering practical support to help improve the difficult family circumstances that can often lead to abuse.
Project leaders and workers are another important key to stopping child abuse. Sometimes these dedicated workers devote themselves to simply feeding or clothing the children in their care, and forget to value them as humans. Viva’s working hard to make sure project workers have the best training in child protection and abuse prevention, so that the most vulnerable children not only have a safe place to live but also a trustworthy adult to love and support them as they grow.
We’re also working through 8 of our city-wide networks across Peru, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Uganda to run child advocacy programmes that are helping children free themselves and their peers from the cycles of abuse and disrespect.
Christians have a responsibility, as the family of God, to watch out for abuse in their churches and social circles. It’s our job to lovingly rebuke and correct abusive parents, and to help them overcome whatever haunts them from their past. It’s also up to us to restore abused children and help them realise their intrinsic worth.
God wants all children to live free from abuse, and all parents to be proud of and value their children. Only when we work together can we see this become a reality. Will you join us?
~ J. in Oxford
To learn more about issues of child abuse, please visit www.viva.org/Abuse.
Get involved with Viva at www.viva.org!
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