Guardian of the Fatherless

In preparing to preach in Atlanta, GA this weekend, I have been meditating on the nature of God as “Father of the fatherless” and came across this quote by Charles Spurgeon. It is from his book “Faith’s Checkbook.”

“In God the orphan finds mercy.” (Hosea 14:3)

When a child is left without its natural protector, our God steps in and becomes his guardian: so also when a man has lost every object of dependence, he may cast himself upon the living God and find in Him all that he needs. Orphans are cast upon the fatherhood of God, and He provides for them. No trust is so well warranted by facts, or so sure to be rewarded by results, as trust in the invisible but ever-living God.

Better have God and no other friend than all the patrons on the earth and no God. To be bereaved of the creature is painful, but so long as the Lord remains the fountain of mercy to us, we are not truly orphaned.

Lord, let me find mercy in Thee! The more needy and helpless I am, the more confidently do I appeal to Thy loving heart.

Defend the Cause of the Orphan

In light of the new horror movie ‘Orphan’ Tom Davis has issued a great challenge on his blog to defend the cause of the orphan in a positive way. Here it is:

I want to challenge my readers and friends to write 500 positive blog posts about how an orphan has impacted and changed your life. Post this on your own blog so that when people search for the movie, they are flooded with positive messages about adoption and orphan care.

Just finish this sentence: “Warner Bros. new horror movie Orphan proclaims that it must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own. Let me tell you about how an orphan changed my life…”

This is the heart of defending orphans. Help push back the darkness and deceit here by holding up as an example the powerful love that adoption and orphan care can unleash.

Here’s how you can defend the orphan:

1. Write a “positive protest post” on your blog that references the movie, Orphan.
2. Focus on your orphan care or adoption story that is positive, redeeming, and full of love.
3. Link your post here via a trackback or comment.
4. Send out an e-mail, Facebook message, or tweet to get others to do the same on their blogs.

If you don’t have a blog, post your story on the Christian Alliance for Orphans Site.

Make sure you link back or comment here so we can keep track of the 500 posts.

On Adoption and Orphan Care: A Proposed Resolution

If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to read the resolution that Russell Moore recently submitted to the Resolutions Committee of the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention: “On Adoption and Orphan Care.”

I am praying that God will indeed pour out His Spirit on His church so that “our churches “increasingly announce and picture, in word and in deed” the heart of God for the fatherless.

‘One Step at a Time’

One of my new favorite blogs is by a young couple working in Uganda with a ministry called Feed My Lambs. Their latest post gives a glimpse into how God is using their simple obedience and faith to do great things as His hands and feet –

As we go through day to day life here in Uganda the Lord reminds us to take one step at a time.  We are reminded daily to slow down so we are aware of when the Lord wants us to extend His love.  The home visits continue to bring joy as we walk from home to home. During each home we are faced with spiritual and physical needs that seem out of our control. Thank you Lord that Jesse and I are only your hands and feet and that you are the one in control!! 

We just so happened to come across a home that had about seven children and one of the children had been recently signed up with Feed His Lambs. The little boy was so full of life. When I first saw him I would have never imagined that he had recently been moved from a home that cursed him and his family from the village.
Once his parents died he was left all alone.  The mama he is now living with heard his story and took him into her motherly arms to care for him in her small hut with six other children.  The mama of the house seemed very physically and spiritually tired.  She explained to me her burden to take in the orphan boy and said, “I know the Lord has called me to care for this orphan but it is tough when I have my other children to care for as well.”  I became so overwhelmed with many different emotions and the only thing that came to my mind was to wrap my arms around her and the children and pray, pray, pray.

While walking home, Christine and I were speechless and amazed at how God was using that woman to spread love to all children. She not only strived to love her children but she also extended her love to orphans that were in need. I will always hold her story close to my heart as it reminds me to extend the love of Jesus even if it seems as though I have nothing else to offer.  As I have seen with this lady, God will always make a way as long as we are obedient to truly love those that cross our path.

 

“We Must”

Yesterday’s Spurgeon quote captured what I so often feel when I think of the magnitude of the need in the world. Today he continues with some encouragement from the interaction between Jesus and his disciples when he told them to feed the five thousand –

“Did we say, just now, we could not?  Surely we must recall our words and say, ‘We must.’  Good Master, we must!  …We feel our weakness, but there is an impulse within us that says we must do it, and we cannot stop, we dare not… No!  by the love we bear thy name; by the bonds that unite us to thee; by everything that is holy before God and humane in the sight of our fellow mortals; by everything that is tender and gentle in the throbbing of our hearts we say we must, though we feel we cannot… the Master said to you, ‘Give ye them to eat.’ ‘Ye.’  Let this church feel that it should look upon the world as if it were the only church, and do its utmost as if it had no helper under heaven, but had all the work to do itself… As Christ was the world’s hope, so is the church the world’s hope, and she must take up the charge as if there were not another. Instead of sending some to this town and some to that, she must hear her Master say, ‘Give ye them to eat.’…To stop your ears to the cries of the hungry, or shut your eyes to the wants of the widow and the fatherless, is not the way to relieve famine.  Nor is it the way of doing good in the world, to avoid the haunts of the poor, and to leave the dens of desolation and sin.  It is ours to touch the leper with our healing finger, not to shrink from his presence; it is ours to go and find out the stripped, and wounded, and helpless… Your Master asks of you, Christian, practical, personal service, and your Christianity is worth nothing unless it make you heed his word – ‘Give ye them to eat’ – unless it makes you as individual members, and as a united body do God’s work for the world’s sake and for Jesus Christ’s sake… As far as your power lies, you are to consider yourselves as the world’s hope, and you are to act as such.” – Spurgeon (emphasis mine)