“Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” -Isaiah 1:17.
Every time I read this verse, I’m struck by its straightforwardness. And every time, it tears me up inside. Defend the orphan. How?
Deep down, I want to be Gladys Aylward and take a hundred children to safety. I want to just run out to the edges of the world now and scoop up all the waiting children and take them home — all of them.
It tears me up inside that I can’t.
I feel so helpless. I feel like I’m not doing anything, and that’s a torturous feeling when every fiber of my being knows it’s wrong to do nothing.
“Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:17)
How can I do that?
A few weeks ago, after attending One Hundred Million Reasons to Celebrate, I was broken yet again by this burden. Several of the speakers there had been adopted out of orphanages, and as they shared, God asked me again, “How are you going to be my hands and feet?”
I don’t know the answer to that question yet. All I know is that I’ve been unable to ignore it. I can’t get it out of my mind. “Vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and destitute.” (Psalm 82:3)
While I continue to wrestle with the “how?”, I’ve been trying to help my friends the Jensen’s on their adoption journey.
And so there are 140+ auction items being bid on right this minute, and every dollar goes towards to the Jensen adoption fund.
Would you consider bidding, and sharing the auction link on Facebook, Twitter, or even your blog? It runs through May 6. We can’t all be Gladys Aylward, but we can all help the Jensens bring one orphan home.
“We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God.” -John Stott
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