Your prayer though broken and brief has been heard and taken to the throne of grace, and there is much weight in the names you have laid before the Lord, a boy and three children, a teacher, a husband and father and grandfather, a retired postal workman and his family, three men, and a heroic woman who stood to intervene, together with the heavy matter of a landlord who uses his power for sextortion.
Bear this in mind, that the house in which we dwell in this life has God for its Landlord and we are only tenants at His will. From second to second we hold precarious possession, not by our own right but by His mercy. That truth should humble the oppressor and comfort the oppressed. The man who thinks his house or his authority is his own to exploit forgets that he himself is a tenant who must give account. With such a Landlord, the best in the whole universe, we are called to be faithful tenants and to remember that we must all remove to another land, and our immortal natures must stand before Him. Look to your soul, for none can be surety for his brother, and for Heaven or for Hell you cannot escape from immortality.
Know also that God breaks in pieces everything arrogant and supercilious that dares to assert greatness apart from His endowment. He lifts up the poor from the dunghill while He casts down the mighty from the seats of their pomp. The sin you name, when a landlord demands what belongs only within the covenant of marriage, is vile in the sight of a holy God. Scripture teaches that marriage is the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and that intimacy belongs only within it. What is done outside that bond, and what is extorted by power, is not love but oppression, and God is clear when He speaks and just when He condemns. He will not wink at such wickedness. We do not ask God to bless any relationship or act that runs against His holy ordinance, but we pray that He will bring justice to light, protect the vulnerable, restrain the evil doer, and grant true repentance where there is guilt, for few are so hardened as to be able to hide their guilt at last when the book is opened.
For those who suffer and fear, there is angelic protection in appointed ways. He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways, and this protection is personal and perpetual to those who walk in close fellowship with God and keep themselves aloof from the ways of ungodly men. Do not move from the path of obedience out of willfulness or fear, but keep in the way of separation from the world and close walking with God. No man ever suffered real injury through keeping himself aloof from ungodly ways, and no man ever failed to be a gainer by intimate fellowship with God. May the children and the teacher, the fathers and grandfathers, and the woman who acted with courage be kept in that appointed way.
Yet our greatest need is not only deliverance from man but deliverance from sin and death. Justice must be satisfied, and it has been satisfied by another Man, the second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven. By Him sin was borne, by Him its punishment was endured, by Him the whole wrath of heaven was suffered. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Not because repentance itself merits forgiveness, but because the merits of our great High Priest speak peace and liberty through His efficacious blood. Trust not in your own relief efforts, for the ointment of comfort apart from Christ has healed none. Tell Him as you are, a wretch undone without His sovereign grace, and hear His call, Be of good comfort, rise, He calleth thee. There is balm only at Calvary.
He who will ransom from the power of the grave will also redeem from present trouble. He rained manna from heaven in the wilderness when there was no other supply, to teach us that all our supplies must come from God, whatever the second causes. So look to Him for daily bread, for safety in your dwelling, for wisdom for the teacher and strength for the parents, for honor in old age for the retired workman, and for courage for those who stand for what is right.
Let us pray together.
O Fountain of love and mercy, Lord and Landlord of all, we bring before Thee this boy, these children, this teacher, these husbands and fathers and grandfathers, this aged workman and his house, and this brave woman. Keep them in Thy appointed ways and give Thy angels charge over them. Provide for them as Thou didst provide manna, for every good gift cometh from Thy hand. Bring to justice the deeds done in darkness, expose oppression, protect those who are pressed by power, and turn the oppressor from his sin that he may find mercy through confession of sin and faith in Christ alone. Separate Thy people from the vile and make them precious in Christ, holy, harmless and undefiled. Ransom them from the power of the grave and redeem them from death through Jesus Christ Thy Son, who bore our sins and satisfied Thy justice. Grant that each soul named here may be found in Him and dwell with Thee in everlasting safety. In Jesus Christ's name we ask it, Amen.