4 Reflections of God’s Care for Orphans

God never called the ancient Egyptians or Romans to care for orphans (and this was certainly not their legacy).  Non-believers today do not have any responsibility to God to care for orphans.  Caring for the fatherless has always been a unique characteristic of the Father and those who are called His people. 
God has revealed Himself in different ways throughout the ages in regard to His care for the fatherless.  Let’s look briefly at four ways that God’s care for orphans is reflected throughout Scripture:

1.  Creation –  Genesis 1.26-27 (HCSB): Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”  So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. Orphan care begins with the sanctity of all life.  To God, all life is valuable.  Many pro-lifers resent the descriptor “anti-abortion,” but pro-life must be more than what we oppose and must include all human life, in the womb and beyond.  Because human life is valuable to our Creator, to their Creator.  God’s original design was for children to grow up in families with two parents.  That original design was messed up by the Fall.  Every story of adoption or foster care involves some sort of tragedy, some consequence of the Fall.
2.  Israel – God’s people, chosen to reflect His holiness to the rest of the world.  They were commanded to care for orphans and make sure they received justice.  Israel was soundly rebuked for failing to care for those, people, including orphans, who had little or no rights in that culture.  Deuteronomy 24.17-18:  Do not deny justice to a foreigner or fatherless child, and do not take a widow’s garment as security.  Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.  Isaiah 1.16-17: Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
3.  Jesus – Jesus went to all the disenfranchised of the world, including children, though even His closest disciples saw them as a hindrance to His work.  One of Jesus’ greatest promises came in John 14.18:  “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.”
4.  The church – Interestingly enough, there is little mention of orphan care in the New Testament.  However, James, in defining what “pure and undefiled religion” looks like, writes this in James 1.27: Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.  Sounds remarkably like God’s commands to Israel.
Elevation Worhsip’s song “The Church” contains some strong words to followers of Jesus.  Reflect on these as you reflect on God’s revelation of Himself as the Father to the fatherless:

     Now’s the time
     For us to rise
     And carry hope
     To hopeless eyes
     And show this world
     That mercy is alive.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to continue the conversation.
Al

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