Eighteen Years of Defeat

In May 1789, a young William Wilberforce rose in the House of Commons and delivered a three-hour speech against the British slave trade. His evidence was devastating. His moral argument, unassailable. Parliament voted him down anyway.

He tried again the next year. And the next. The slave merchants of Liverpool celebrated each defeat from their mahogany-paneled offices, their fortunes swelling with every ship that crossed the Atlantic. They seemed invincible.

Wilberforce could have raged. He could have plotted revenge or resorted to manipulation. Instead, he returned to his study, knelt beside his desk, and prayed. He gathered more evidence, wrote more letters, cultivated allies one quiet conversation at a time. He committed his way to the Lord and simply kept going.

The defeats mounted year after year. Friends urged him to abandon the cause. His health deteriorated. The wicked prospered.

Then, on February 23, 1807, Parliament voted 283 to 16 to abolish the slave trade. The chamber erupted in cheers. Wilberforce sat with tears streaming down his face. The men who had trafficked in human souls saw their empire collapse in a single evening.

Psalm 37 reads like a biography written centuries before Wilberforce was born: "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret when people succeed in their ways." The Almighty does not forget the righteous. His timeline is longer than ours, and His justice is sure.