Why the Church Should Provide for Widows and Orphans.

 

Throughout the Old Testament, God commanded that from the offering collected to provide for the Levities a provision be made to provide for the fatherless and widowed. There are many references but for time sake I will only reference three here.

Deuteronomy 14:29

And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.

Psalm 82:3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Psalm 68:5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

 

God commanded the church to continue in this practice.

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

One of the greatest growths of the Christian church happened in Acts 6:7, but in Acts 6:1 the church was in turmoil because of the neglect of caring for Grecian widows. Why did God command Israel to care for their widows and orphans? Why should the Church continue doing the same?

From the beginning God created relationships for man to enjoy. He created man and then introduced himself to man, setting up man’s must essential relationship – his relationship with God. Man without knowledge of God finds himself empty and unsatisfied. God then created women thereby creating man’s next essential relationship –  marriage and family. After the fall of Adam and Eve the knowledge of God became blurred and God has often sense then used human relationships, especially of marriage and Father and son, to try and portray how much he loves us.

In Jesus Christ, God portrayed the love of a husband for his wife. Jesus lived to give his all for his bride regardless of who accepted and who denied his love. Jesus’ job was to provide a secure home in heaven for a world who could never obtain that security. As a husband should love unconditionally and provide for his family Jesus gave his life on the cross, out of unconditional love, to make us his family.

In God the Father, God portrays the provision of the father for his children. When Jesus taught on prayer, he referred to God as the Father. The Father of the Lord’s Prayer is referred to as forgiving, protecting and providing. He forgives sins, protects from temptation and provides daily bread. Our earthly fathers may only forgive our stupidities, protect us from monsters in the closet and provide daily food, but the analogies are apparent. Christ also spoke in this passage about how no Father would give his son a scorpion when he asked for bread. When we pray we may not always ask for the right things, but God will provide what we truly need.

God tries to explain himself to man in these ways, and most can see glimpses of God’s love in their Father or husband. However many live without knowledge of the loving touch of either. Some have lost them at a young age, many others have been abandoned by the same. Who will show these that God is love and will never forsake them even if their Father did? The church should, as a direct represented of God’s love, step in and provide. Not just provided financially though, but to provide love, protection, nourishing, comforting and other tokens of godliness. It is not enough to buy a meal and say “I love you”. It is required to make friends, attend ball games, help with homework, and to be their when mistakes are made. It is necessary to love when a home run is hit and to love a young teenager is in jail on a DUI. No amount of words can make up for the actions of love displayed upon those without the love of a father or husband

 For far too long the church has failed in their provision for those in financial and emotion need and now those same do not look to God for help. They do not look to the church for answers. They believe they hold the answers or if they do not even believe in themselves they believe in the Government. It is time for the church to restore people confidence in themselves, the church and God by provided for orphans and widows, first within their church and then throughout their communities as the Lord provides.