…”They are Precious in His Sight”

God cares about orphans. He does. The Bible is clear that he cares about orphans, widows, and the needy.

Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place…He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the Lord.  Jeremiah 22:3-4,16

God is very serious about the responsibility of His people to take care of those who are not able to take care of themselves. Here are a few more verses to back that up.

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4

"You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.  Exodus 22:21-24

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.  James 1:27

There are app. 163 million orphans in the world today. Children without parents, children on the streets in Mexico City, in the garbage dumps of Cairo, in orphanages in Romania. I can’t picture 163 million of anything. That number is too huge. 26,000 children die every day from preventable diseases related to lack of food and clean water.

God says we are supposed to do something about that. I know, you and I can’t adopt all of those children. But we can give money to worthy organizations that help them.  Cottonwood supports Kids Across Cultures. My family sponsors children through World Vision. Check out their websites for information, or pick another one.

Closer to home, in Texas, there are over 5000 children waiting to be adopted. Parental rights are already terminated, they are waiting to for a family. I checked out the internet site and looked at some of these children’s pictures. My heart broke. You can see them here; http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Adoption_and_Foster_Care/Child_Search/default.asp.

Maybe you can’t adopt, but maybe you can be a foster parent or help someone who is. I don’t have a lot of answers, just a deep sense that God cares about these children and we should too.