A Father of the Fatherless and a Defender of Widows

Brethren, there's a specific category of people that the Bible reveals has God's special attention. He cares in a very special way for these people. In fact, He makes special provision for them in His law and what it is that He outlined specifically for Israel and by extension us to obey. God is personally involved in seeing that this specific group of people have their needs met. His instructions to us are to see that their needs are met as well.

This is a category of people who are the especially vulnerable among us in a number of ways. They are at times preyed upon by others. Society around us would tend to at times prey upon this group of people and attempt to merchandise or take advantage of them in some way. It is something which is most displeasing to God. Today I'm talking about the widows and the fatherless.

Again, it's a category of people who God looks upon and cares for in a very specific way. I want to begin today in Psalms 68th chapter because as we walk through verses today, we'll see that this isn't just something that God mentions in passing. This is something that is contained as a thread all throughout the Scripture. Its focus is very important to God. Psalm 68 and beginning in verse 4 says, Sing to God. Sing praises to His name. Extol Him who rides on the clouds by His name, Yah, and rejoice before Him.

Now, verse 5, it actually now steps in to give us a description of an attribute of this character. Verse 5, it says, A father of the fatherless and a defender of widows is God in his holy habitation. In other words, from heaven, when God looks down upon this earth and beholds those people, He looks upon the plight of the widow and the fatherless, and He responds very personally and very directly.

He doesn't just cast a glancing blow in terms of his attention. No, they have his direct focus and attention. Widows are women whose husbands have died, leaving them on their own. The fatherless could be those with no parents at all to care for them. It could be orphans. Or it could be children who do, in fact, have a mother in the home, but their father has died, or is, for some reason, not present to step in in that way. But again, these are among the vulnerable of society. God takes their well-being very seriously. And, brethren, as we'll see today throughout the message and the scriptures that God's provided, we should take their well-being very, very seriously as well.

Now, again, as I mentioned, they are amongst the vulnerable of society, and those who are the most helpless, unfortunately, are often targets in our society. You know, scammers, those who would try to, again, merchandise somebody or pull the wool over their eyes in some way in terms of deceit in order to gain something from them, oftentimes will target the elderly, the widows, those who are vulnerable in some way. But the point is, nothing escapes God's attention.

He is their defender. He will avenge the plight of the widow and the fatherless. Again, he is a father of the fatherless, the scripture says, and a defender of widows. And that is my title for today, a father of fatherless and a defender of widows.

That is our God, and frankly, that should be an attribute of his character that we are taking on as well. Let's notice Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 17. Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 17. Here are instructions that God has given for his people as they came out of Egypt, as they were supposed to now live as a nation before him according to righteous judgments and standards.

Deuteronomy 10 and verse 17, it says, For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes bribes. So, you know, in this physical existence, there is nothing that you and I have, even the most wealthy person has, that God could be altered by or considered to even be bribed by. God owns everything. He shows no partiality in that sense, but in terms of when it comes to widows, fatherless, it's not a form of partiality.

It is a form simply of stepping in in a responsibility and in care that is lacking in their life. And God says, you know, I can't be bought off. I can't be bribed in any of this. Verse 18, He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Verse 19, Therefore, love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Stranger is another category of people that maybe we'll look at another time. It's essentially someone who was outside the national identity of Israel, but they were considered to be a stranger. But God still said, Be careful how you treat them. But the point is that it is God Himself who administers justice for the fatherless and the widow. He sees their plight, He hears their cry when they cry out to Him, and He responds accordingly. I'll just quote it for you. Proverbs 15, verse 25, says, The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, but He will establish the boundary of the widow. The proud is those who have a lifted-up heart in opposition to God.

God says, You know, that will not stand, but the boundary of the widow, I will see that it is established, and that it stands, and that it does not move. The New Living Translation renders it this way. Again, it's Proverbs 15, verse 25. It says, The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but He protects the property of widows. God literally protects the property of widows, of those who would have nobody there, literally, to offer that oversight and that overprotection and that care for themselves. Exodus 22, verse 21.

Exodus 22, verse 21. Again, God is not slacking these things, brethren. He doesn't turn His eye away and forget. He does indeed see their plight. He is a father of the fatherless, a defender of widows. Exodus 22, verse 21. It says, You shall neither mistreat a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry out at all to me, I will surely hear their cry.

And my wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword. Your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless. Clearly, God doesn't take it lightly when somebody abuses a widow or a fatherless individual, taking advantage of them, moving in on them, and in some way inserting themselves in a destructive manner, where there is not someone to watch over and care for them. God says, you do that. The repercussions of what you are doing will be on your head. They will cry to me, and I will hear and respond. Verse 25, still in Exodus 22, he says, If you lend money to any of my people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a money lender to them.

You shall not charge him interest. Who is it that the payday loan franchises and the title loan organizations prey on? They may not always be specifically widows and fatherless in this way, but it is those who are in desperate need, is it not? It's the vulnerable. It's those who really aren't in a position that they think they can do anything for themselves or that they have any other option.

So you walk into these places, and it's short-term loans at sky-high interest, and simply taking advantage of this person's desperate situation. God says, that sort of thing is not going to be so among my people. What's interesting is when you study through the system and the societal system that God structured for Israel, its purpose was to lift people up, not to keep them held in oppression and poverty. You know, we think of the Jubilee, it came around every 50th year.

The Jubilee was an opportunity once in your lifetime to start again. There was the family inheritance that came to the tribes in Israel and to the families, and it was the past from generation to generation, be that inheritance to your family. And if you lost that land because of bad decisions, because of whatever it might have been, there was a once in lifetime opportunity at the Jubilee, the land returned to the owner. And that was God's way in some ways of trying to balance the scale back out.

You weren't necessarily going to have the super-rich that got richer or the desperately poor. You would have people that did better than others because they applied themselves more, made wiser decisions. But the fact is, God's system that he established wasn't set up to keep the poor poor and to take advantage of them in any way. And he instructed his people that when you conduct yourselves towards the poor, towards the stranger, towards the fatherless or the widow, you'd be very careful in how you do those things.

Now, verse 26 says, If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. For that is his only covering. It is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to me, I will hear, for I am gracious. And so again, the point was, if you're going to take the shirt off your neighbor's back, literally as collateral in some transaction, you weren't to leave him without it for long. You're not going to keep their cloak and their garment until the sun goes down and the temperature drops, because God says, you know what?

These are my people that I bought at a price. I brought them out of Egypt. And you'd be careful how it is that you treat one another. Part of human decency and compassion is what God is instructing them in through the system that he established. So again, the point, they put up their garment for collateral. You take that. You don't keep it once the sun goes down. Now notice God takes this point just a little bit further as it pertains to widows. Deuteronomy chapter 24. Deuteronomy chapter 24 and verse 17. Again, instructions. This is the societal system that God established.

I mentioned the Jubilee, right? And we tend to look at the Jubilee and think about it from the perspective of somebody that has lost something that they will get back. But think what God truly intended from the beginning is that what you have and you build through your lifetime is passed to your children. And because they're obeying his commandments and their marriages are solid and their families are intact and they're making wise business decisions.

That's not lost. It is built up even greater, passed on to their children. God never intended that Israel would come up against the Jubilee in a desperate position of, you know, we're here, we can reset. It was a blessing that they could. But the point was, in one respect, that that shouldn't be the expectation of how you live your life.

Begin, what does God expect in terms of treatment to the widow? Deuteronomy 24, verse 17, it says, You shall not pervert justice, do the stranger or the fatherless, or take a widow's garment as a pledge. God says, you don't even take that.

Verse 18, But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I command you to do this thing. So when it came to a widow woman in need, you weren't even to take her garment as a part of the pledge in that matter. You could take it from someone else who was willing to offer it up for a time, but God said, you know what, a widow is a different matter.

I'm looking over them, and you must be looking over them as well. If you were to have a widow offer up her garment as a pledge, it meant she was in a desperate place. A very desperate situation. God says, my people, I am making provision that those who are vulnerable and in that desperate place be helped, not hindered by my people.

Again, a father of the fatherless and a defender of widows is God from his holy habitation, and it's what he desires for us to be as well. Verse 19, it goes on, it says, When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheath in the field, you shall not go back and get it. For it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.

When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it again afterwards. You're not going to go back a second time, you know. Maybe you picked what was ripe and left some that was still a little green. I'll come back and get it later. God says, no, that's for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Do not glean it afterwards. So it be for the stranger, fatherless, and the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore, I command you to do this thing. Now, the point is, God made sure there would be provision for those who were vulnerable in that way.

You were essentially, as you went through, if you had means, and you had fields, and you had crops, you essentially left some behind that they would then be able to come in and to glean. Now, you notice it doesn't say, you go out and pick it, and you give it to them. Because the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow still had responsibility before God in that provision as well.

It was left for them. They went through and did the work to glean their fields. You know, maybe there was an occasional circumstance where you did help out in that way if somebody was infirmed or incapable. That is certainly prudent. But God's expectation was that some would be left for them and that they would also contribute on their part to receive what God was providing.

This wasn't a welfare state God was creating. I use that term loosely. He was looking after the welfare of the people. Some of that includes being motivated to contribute and not just simply receive. Third tithe was intended to be for such provision as well, still in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 26, verse 11. This is the third tithe year, Deuteronomy 26, verse 11. It says, So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you, you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.

Verse 12, When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, and have given to the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God, I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandments which you have commanded me.

I have not transgressed your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. It does appear that the third tithe portion in that way was actually handled a little differently than leaving a portion of your crop in the field. It was gathered in, and it was distributed to those a tenth of that, a tithe, again, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Again, it was a portion that was ultimately provided by God. Now, unfortunately, so many things that God commanded Israel to do for their good they did not do.

And unfortunately, there were times when God essentially had to lay down the law, had to rebuke them, and when they still wouldn't come into conformity, eventually he had to displace both Israel and Judah for a time from their land. And what we'll notice is that the mistreatment of widows, of the fatherless, is among those things that God brings forth as a charge against his people when he comes into judgment against them.

Notice Zechariah 7. Zechariah 7. Again, God said, I will hear the plea and the cry of the widow and the fatherless. I will respond. I don't think God is mocked. Zechariah 7 and verse 8 says, God, we don't want to hear your message. Cover the ears. What do you think God's response, indeed, would be? Verse 12 says, Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.

Therefore it happened that just as he proclaimed, and they would not hear, so they called out, and I would not listen, says the Lord of hosts. So in his wrath, God said, you know what? You wouldn't listen to my instruction despite repeated warnings. Now the judgment is coming upon you. You're crying out to me, and I'm not going to hear.

Indeed, brethren, there is a time when we hear rebuke, when we hear things that should cause us to change. But there also comes a time when persuasion is passed and the consequences of our actions become realized. God says, I gave you a chance, I gave you warnings. You would not hear. Verse 21. Sorry, I'm going to go back. I'm going to just end it right on verse 14. I guess the chapter ends here. Verse 14, he says, But I have scattered them with a whirlwind among the nations, which they have not known.

Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned, for they made the pleasant land desolate. The point being, part of what God's judgment on the people were, were that they were not fulfilling his decree towards the widow and the fatherless in this way.

They weren't protecting the vulnerable. Isaiah chapter 1 in verse 15. Notice God's plea for his people to clean up their act. Isaiah chapter 1 in verse 15 says, When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you made many prayers, I will not hear, Your hands are full of blood. You know, in my mind, it's sort of like somebody dropping to their knees and crying out to God and lifting up holy hands, and there's blood on their hands.

And it's blood of their victims and those who were vulnerable, who they took advantage of. And God said, I'm not going to hear or respond to that. Verse 16, he says, Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressors, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow, step in the gap, do what it is I gave you to do to defend the vulnerable, to plead on their behalf.

These are active action words. He says, learn and seek and rebuke and defend and plead. Don't just know about these things. God says, you need to take action as my people. Verse 18, Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Again, God pleading with his people, but the consequences will indeed catch them.

Verse 21, How the faithful city has become a harlot. It was full of justice, righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers are there. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them. Again, in their turning aside from the instructions of God, and turning to dishonesty, turning to bribery, they did not defend the fatherless, nor the widow.

And it would appear very likely, in fact, that they took advantage of them. They took those who were vulnerable and merchandised them for their own cause and for their own gain. God was not pleased. Isaiah 10, verse 1. Don't think God doesn't take the plight of the widow and the fatherless sincerely. Isaiah 10, verse 1. Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortunes, which they have prescribed, to rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless. You know, God holds that plight, again, of those people at a very high level.

He is the father to the fatherless, the defender of widows, and His expectations are His holy people would be as well. Judgment came upon the people of Israel and Judah, in part, because they were not fulfilling those things. Brethren, God expects us, the Church of God today, to be defenders of the vulnerable and the needy, to watch out for their well-being, not just sit back and wait until something comes to us, but be actively involved, actively looking at where there is need and where we can contribute.

God hears the outcry of the widow and the fatherless. The question is, do we? Do we? Indeed, we must. Psalm 146. Psalm 146, verse 9. If we're going to be like God, if we're going to be like His Son, Jesus Christ, take on their nature and their character. This is a part of exercising what it is that God, by His own love and mercy, exercises.

Psalm 146, verse 9. The Lord watches over the strangers, He relieves the fatherless and the widow, but the way of the wicked He turns upside down. Again, the question is, is this describing us? Is this describing us? As a people, we should be quick to watch over the stranger, right, to see that they're not abused or taken advantage of.

When I travel to Africa, the brethren in the church there are very protective of me. I'm grateful, but they won't hardly let me out of their sight, and sometimes it can be a little frustrating. Sometimes an adventure isn't so bad. But this last year in Nigeria, I was there for the spring holy days, and for Passover and the night to be much observed, I flew from Lagos to Benin City. The hotel I stayed at was directly across the street from the airport. So you walk out of the airport terminal, down about a quarter-mile driveway, across four lanes of traffic in town.

They're not speeding highway. Four lanes of traffic, and there's the hotel right across the street. Well, I had three people meet me at the airport, which was very nice and pleasant. And, you know, we greeted one another. They walked me across the street to the airport. After my stay for a couple of days, I'm flying out in the morning, and they said, Well, we'll come back. We'll walk you across the street, back to the airport. And I said, No, I'm fine. And they're like, No, no, no, no, no, no.

We need to come back. I said, Really? I'm fine. My flight's eight in the morning or so. They're 45 minutes across town. I didn't need them driving 45 minutes over, 45 minutes back, to walk me across the street. It's not a place to really be too concerned about in that way. But my point is, they were seeking to be careful with the stranger, right? To protect, to look out for, to guard over the stranger who was in their midst. And God says, You did the same as well. You were slaves in Egypt, a nation that you were strangers in, and you were oppressed, and you were under bondage, and you were mistreated, God says.

And I brought you out of that. Don't level the same conduct towards one another as brethren. So again, we should be quick to watch over the plight of the stranger, to relieve the fatherless and the widow as God does as well. God does those things, but oftentimes the way He does those things is through us.

We are instruments of what it is that He accomplishes in those ways. We're told in James 1, 27 that pure and undefiled religion before God will include visiting the widows and orphans in their troubles and in their difficulties. And that just doesn't simply mean stopping by for a cup of coffee. It is good to stop by. It's good to sit down and visit, but it includes getting to understand their circumstances, finding out the position that they're in. How can maybe I help? How can I be of assistance? It could even be something as simple as, do they need the bulb changed in the porch light outside the front door?

For you and I, that may seem like simple things, but for somebody who is maybe in a position where they're not able to do such things, that's kind of a big deal. If you live at home alone, you're an elderly woman and the front porch light is burned out and it's dark and somebody knocks on the door, that could be a little intimidating. So again, it doesn't always have to be some big superhero move. You don't have to be the AAA guy.

You can be someone who checks in on their neighbor and seeks to help in their time of need. Maybe it's times that people need to run to the grocery store. Maybe they have shopping to do. Maybe they have a doctor's appointment to keep. And there are people among us who do fulfill those things, and I'm grateful. More importantly, though, God is grateful. It is what God would have us to do.

I sold my business. I was in my landscape business for about 22 years. I sold that about three years ago. And one of the primary concerns for that was my customers. More than even the dollar amount, honestly, my concern was my customers. Because I had a mix of commercial, residential business, and of the residential business, a good majority of those were elderly people. And of those elderly, a good majority were widows. And some of these were people that I'd had their business for 20-plus years. So they weren't widows when I started, but they became widows. And I could see the difference of what things got done when their husband was around, even in failing health, versus what happened when they were on their own. And suddenly I would get questions on things such as, I don't know where the water shut off to the houses. Can you help me find it? My car wouldn't start this morning. Can you take a look? You know, whatever it might be. But again, there was not somebody for them to call on. And over the years, I ended up being on the speed dial of quite a few elderly ladies. And I just said, look, if a pipe bursts at 2 a.m. and there's water going everywhere and you don't know what to do, call me. There's nobody that you can call that's close by. And to me, that was not just a business client. That was a personal relationship. So when I handed my business off, when I sold it, that was my concern. Would I find somebody that cared for those people the way that I did, or would they just sort of be a customer? You know, a big business, just kind of come and go, you're on the clock. Because if that's what it's all about, you're not going to stop and take the time and necessarily walk across the street and bring them their mail. On the other hand, they're probably not going to give you their back gate key either. I had a whole key ring full of keys of sweet little old ladies who, after two or three years, said, okay, I trust you enough to give you my key. God watches over those who are vulnerable. He defends them. He cares for them and makes provision for them. And sometimes that provision comes through our actions and our hands. A defender of widows and a father of the fatherless must be our approach in this Christian life as well. In my message last week, I spoke on the example of Jesus Christ. How He is our teacher and, in that sense, we are His disciples, learning from Him, learning to emulate His example. Jesus also understood and displayed this form of compassion for the fatherless and the widow in His ministry. Let's notice Luke 7, verse 11.

Luke 7 and verse 11.

It says, Now it happened the day after that, they went into a city called Nahyan, and many of His disciples went with Him and a large crowd. So He has this surge of people here who are following Him. When you do miracles, you tend to attract a little bit of attention. Verse 12, it says, And He went, as He went, He came near the gate of the city. And behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother. And she was a widow, and a large crowd from the city was with her. So here we have a woman who was a widow. Her husband had died. And now her only son has died. And they're carrying out this person, again, her only son.

So just stop and consider for a moment the circumstances, what it would have been like for this widow. Having lost her husband now, she no doubt depended on her only son for care and provision and protection. There wasn't a welfare state in that sense. There was the tithe, the third tithe, and the care that God had instructed His people in, if it was being carried out. But the point is, she was in a vulnerable position, and her son was the one that she would have been dependent on. Now that he has died, she's probably thinking, what's going to happen to me? What's going to happen to my home? How am I going to eat? Who's going to look out for me? Verse 13 says, And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep. Then he came and touched the coffin, and those who carried him stood still, and he said, Young man, I say to you, arise.

I can hardly even read through that passage, just kind of considering what this is. Verse 15, So he who was dead sat up and began to speak, and he, Christ, presented him to his mother. Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, A great prophet has risen up among us, and God has visited his people.

Jesus Christ saw this woman, saw her position, understood her vulnerability, and in his compassion and mercy, he intervened on her behalf. We learn from him, and this is the example. He is our teacher. We are his disciples. And this is the example which he has set for us. Obviously, we can't bring somebody back to life in this way, but we can look after a person's circumstances, have compassion on them, understand the position that they're in, and seek to help them where we can. It encourages all of us to look for opportunities that God lays before us to respond to people, to recognize their plight, and to intervene where we can. It also seems likely from the biblical record that Jesus had a unique insight into this woman's circumstances. You'll notice, as you study through the Gospel accounts, that there's no mention of Christ's physical father, Joseph, following the account when he was 12 years old. You'll recall Mary and Joseph and Jesus had come up to the Passover in Jerusalem. After that's done, they depart. The caravan gets out. I think it was a couple of days, if I recall. And suddenly, we thought Jesus was here. Where is he? He wasn't to be found among the company of travelers there. So, his parents went back, and they found him in the temple, reasoning with the teachers. And the teachers were astonished at his knowledge. That's the last time you see Joseph referenced in the biblical account. No mention of him past that point. It is commonly believed that Joseph died when Jesus was still young, leaving his mother as a widow. So, what insight would that give to Jesus Christ, then? His mother dies. She's a widow. Who's the eldest son?

Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, right? He's the firstborn. He's the eldest son. Who would the responsibility of the care for the widow and the siblings, who would that have fallen upon? That would have fallen upon primarily Jesus Christ. He was a carpenter by trade. He had gone out and worked with his father Joseph. He had learned that business. And it would seem very likely that from the point of Joseph's death, whenever that was, up until when Christ's ministry began at the age of 30, he spent much of his time providing for a widow and a family of fatherless siblings. So you just imagine, as he comes into the city and he sees this woman, who is a widow, and her only son dies. And you can understand the empathy and the compassion that he had on her as he extended his hand and restored life to that young man.

Jesus understood a life of sacrifice and service. He understood the plight of the widow and the fatherless. He knew the distress and the anxiety that can assume when a woman whose husband is no longer there because he has died.

We can catch a glimpse into the circumstances surrounding his life at the time of his crucifixion. John 19. This is another element of evidence that Mary was a widow. John 19 and verse 25. Here, literally, the crucifixion, Christ is on the stake, about to die. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. And when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, John, standing by, he said to his mother, Jesus Christ isn't saying, Jesus Christ isn't saying, Jesus Christ isn't saying, Jesus Christ isn't saying, He's directing Mary to look on John as her son and provider from that point forward. Verse 27. Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home.

At the last of his physical strength, one of the last things that Jesus Christ did on this earth before he yielded up the spirit, was he saw to it that his widowed mother was cared for by someone whom he trusted. He said, Behold your mother. Behold your son. As the eldest son, that was his responsibility to look after her, and he took that seriously. The defender of the widow, the father to the fatherless, was an example that Jesus Christ set in his very life as well.

So what about us, brethren? Again, God has called us to do these things to emulate this aspect of his character. Watching over the fatherless and the widow are to be a part of our calling as well. First John, chapter 3 and verse 16. First John, chapter 3 and verse 16. He says, By this we know love, because he lay down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. He's talking about sacrificial service, one for another. Verse 17, But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue. Don't just talk about it. I can tell you all day long that I love you and never do a thing about it.

Let us not love in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Saying, if you actually love, express it. Do something about it. Take action when you are able. It's an expression of love of God and Christ in us when we respond to the needs of others. But that takes a relationship, doesn't it? It takes time sitting down, getting to know somebody, coming to understand their circumstance. Again, it takes an investment on our part that is not always easy. I have places to go. I have things to do, right? That's all our lives. And yet, sometimes we simply need to slow down, take a breath, and recognize who it is that can't run at that same pace as we do anymore, and to help them along the way as well. The example of Job is intriguing to me. Job was a righteous man. Oh, he had some lessons to learn, okay? And sometimes we focus in on the lessons, but it's interesting to focus in at times on the defense that he gave as he's coming through the process of, you're going to learn something here as, you know, who God is and who you are by comparison. But in terms of living this physical life, God's like, Have you seen anybody? Consider my servant Job. Have you seen anybody like him? Job was a righteous man in terms of his actions and the things that he did. Job 29 verse 11 says, When the ear heard, then it blessed me. And when the eye saw, then it approved me. Because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper. Job says, I sought out those and I found those that had nobody else to stand in their defense. And I defended them, and I helped them, and I stood them on their feet. Verse 13, The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. That's quite a tribute. How would you like that to be said about you? There's somebody that caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. With the love, with the care, with the help that was extended.

Also it said, verse 13, It said, The blessing of the perishing man came upon him, Visiting somebody sitting by their side as they're dying, Keeping them company, encouraging them, Giving them hope of what lies ahead. Job was blessed by those individuals for the support that he offered. Again, how would you like those things said about you? Apostle Paul gave us instructions on caring for the widows, how that balance was to be. And the point of fact is that it's not only the church's responsibility, it is first and foremost the family's responsibility. 1 Timothy 5, verse 1.

1 Timothy 5, verse 1, It says, You know, there's times where even correction is due, but you know what? You can always pick up a bigger stick, right? But if you take out the baseball bat and just start swinging, you can't undo that. So he says, you know what? If you need to offer correction, you can't do that. So he says, You know what? If you need to offer correction, don't rebuke an older man, but lift them up. Find ways to come into that relationship that is helpful. Verse 3, But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents, for this is good and acceptable before God. Verse 16, If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be burdened, that it may relieve those who are really widows.

So here Paul is putting a heavy emphasis on the widow's family, watching out for her, caring for her, seeing that she is provided instead of leaving all the responsibility to the church. The church does take that responsibility seriously, and it does step in and intervene and help in assistance to what a family is able to provide. But Paul says, Let the church not be burdened so it can actually put the resource and the effort fully towards those who have nobody at all. It is instructive for us who are of the family of widows. What our responsibility in this regard is to be.

It's like parents with children. Sometimes the parents think, Well, the church's responsibility to rear their children in God. It is not. We play a supporting role, and we are to reinforce that and teach of God. But what does the Bible say to parents? Teach your children when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down when you rise up. The church reinforces that teaching and is a support to the parents, but they don't take over that responsibility, relieving the parents of it. It is the same in this case with widows with family members. Again, it's an insight, an instruction, and practical application from Paul.

Brethren, God has blessed us with the diversity of members throughout our congregations. We have younger people. We have older people. We have strong working people. We have widows. We have fatherless. We have those who have strong parents and people that can contribute their time. Those things are a blessing. Let us fully appreciate one another. We have differing strengths and abilities to contribute to one another, different abilities in ways that we can produce what God would have us to produce within His church. Let us use these blessings to uplift one another, never forgetting the poor, the fatherless, the widow, the stranger. Look out for those, indeed, who are invulnerable. God our Father is a father of the fatherless and a defender of widows. Let us endeavor to emulate that same love and care for all, not only within the church of God, but in this world around us as well. Believe me, God our Father is watching, and He is concerned about this very thing.