Orphans

I don’t know about you, but the more I get to know God the more I realize how serious He is about us taking care of orphans. So serious in fact that He mandates to His people, through His Word, more than 40 times, to care for the orphans.
Last night I attended a meeting at a church who has an orphan ministry. Since God has clearly laid orphans on my heart I wanted to go see what this was all about. This church is a mega church and does what I feel is a great job of including and reaching all kinds of people. I loved meeting the people there who have a heart for orphans like I do. They shared scripture that proved orphan care is big to God. I am sure you have heard many of these scriptures, but I will list a few here just in case you want to check it out for yourself. They are:
Exodus 22:22
Deuteronomy 24:17
Deuteronomy 24:21
Isaiah 1:17
Jeremiah 22:3
James 1:27
Deuteronomy 18:18
Deuteronomy 24:19
Matthew 25:40
Matthew 25:45
John 14:18
Jeremiah 7:6
Jeremiah 22:3
Proverbs 23:10
Deuteronomy 10:18
Psalms 82:3
Psalms 94:6
Hosea 14:3
Psalms 10:14, 18
That is a lot of scripture- do you think God could make it any more clear?

Yet, the woman in charge of the meeting shared with us one scripture that somehow I had not yet heard… one that caught my attention (despite Aleigha and Mya wiggling around on my lap). It was this-“Then I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earners of his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear me. “Say the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:5

WOW. Did you catch that? Did you hear what He said? Like the leader shared last night- when most of us hear the word 'adulterer'-we cringe and think ‘oh what a horrible, despicable thing.’ And when we hear the word 'sorcerer' we think “oh how evil, I couldn’t imagine.” But then God goes on to include THOSE WHO TURN THEIR BACKS ON ORPHANS in this same category... and we all start to feel a bit more uneasy don’t we? Now I have to admit that even as an adoptive mother there are times where I have even had the ‘can’t save the world mentality’. There are literally 143 MILLION orphans in this world today- and that does get a bit overwhelming. But you know what- God never once asked me to do it all alone. He never once asked me to take it all on my shoulders. He asked me come along side of Him-to be His hands and feet... because if we don’t do it- then who will?? Who will be God’s hands and feet?

The Lord is saying to us- "This is truly my heart beat. Run with Me"! Do you have your jogging shoes on?