God's Heart for the Orphan

Thank you for all of your thoughtful comments on the Intro post. (I am convinced that I have the best blog-readers out there. I love you all so much, and think you are all so encouraging and inspiring.)

If you're just joining us, we're taking this entire month to discuss the topic of adoption and foster care. We began here if you'd like to catch up. Now, on to today's post....

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As we consider the topics of adoption and foster care, I think there is only one right place to start:

God's Word.

I'm not going to give my thoughts on these verses- at least not just yet. (I can't promise that my thoughts won't spill over in future posts!) I'm just going to let God's Word speak for itself. Also... I know it's tempting to see a list of verses and skim the first one or two and then click away. I want to ask you, though, to read each and every one:

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. ~Deut. 10:18

You, O God... are the helper of the fatherless. ~Psalm 10:14

You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. ~Psalm 10:17-18

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
God sets the lonely in families. ~Psalm 68:5-6

For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. ~Psalm 72:12-14

Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. ~Psalm 82: 3-4

The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow. ~Psalm 146:9

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. ~Isaiah 1:17

For in you the fatherless find compassion. ~Hosea 14:3

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. ~James 1:27