“Arise, O Lord! Punish the wicked, O God! Do not ignore the helpless! Why do the wicked get away with despising God? They think, “God will never call us to account.” But you see the trouble and grief they cause. You take note of it and punish them. The helpless put their trust in you. You defend the orphans.”
Psalm 10:12-14 NLT
The Psalmist wrote that wickedness, and wicked people cause “trouble and grief”, a statement that is indisputably true. We look around at the wars taking place in Ukraine and the Middle East and see the extent of misery in ordinary people’s lives reaching far beyond national borders. In our own societies we see the results of crime and violence, or drugs and addictions. Evil and wickedness is rampant. But there is one people group that is especially vulnerable and that is the orphans. There were many in David’s day, children left without parents, due to disease or some other form of premature death. And there are many in the world today. UNICEF estimates that there are over 150 million orphans, children who have lost at least one parent, in the world today but they concede that this is probably an underestimate. There are more children, trafficked, or forced to work in inhospitable places like mines, who swell the total numbers. Throughout history, there have been orphaned children, and societies have had a very poor reputation in how they deal with them. But there are four words of hope for our children in today’s verses – “You defend the orphans”. God is there for them.
But in our societies today, what does God defence of orphans look like? In James 1:27, the Apostle wrote, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you”. God’s people have a responsibility to look after orphans, pure and simple. Of course, not every believer has either the capability or resources to do so, but there are many opportunities nevertheless. Organisations such as Compassion run schemes to help child-caring projects in various parts of the world, and need financial support. Here in the UK the state has assumed responsibility for providing foster and children’s homes, as have some Christian denominations. But God, in His Word, said He will defend the orphans, so those who abuse or mistreat orphans will one day have to account for their actions before God.
In Matthew 18, Jesus said some things about children. “Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:3-6 NLT).
We pilgrims honour and protect our children, parenting them as God desires. God is there helping us. But we also look for opportunities to help children who are not so fortunate, secure in the thought that God is there looking after them. In His heart, God has a special place for children, especially orphans.
Dear Heavenly Father, we were all children once and we can look back and see the ways that You defended us against evil and evil people. Thank You for Your care and love. Please help us too as we care for our little ones everywhere. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 