Thursday Devotional - God of Grace – To those in Need 9/15/2022

Have you ever wondered which person or group to help? Sometimes it can be overwhelming when we know of so many people and organizations in need. 

Timothy may have been similarly overwhelmed, so Paul gave him certain criteria for determining which widows from within the church to help.

I Timothy 5:3-10       ³ Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. ⁴ But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. ⁵ The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. ⁶ But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. ⁷ Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. ⁸ Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

⁹ No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, ¹⁰ and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

Timothy was to determine:

1. The widows who truly needed support
2. Those who had no other means of help from family
3. Those who had lived pure and purposeful lives

I often feel badly not supporting ALL the wonderful organizations that need financial support. However, after prayer, I was led to contribute to certain organizations doing God’s work. Then, I was able to guiltlessly recycle all the other requests for support that came in the mail.

Just as God, through Paul, helped Timothy know where he was to help the needy, God can help you and me know! Will you ask God who you are to help? Then we can listen for when and how to help.

Alice

Caring for Orphans

Some of you know that Joe and I have not been able to have children. We got pregnant in our first year of marriage, but miscarried at 13 weeks. Since then, we haven’t been able to get pregnant again. For a while, we thought it just wasn’t God’s timing.

A couple years later, though, we were studying the book of Isaiah and I was challenged by God’s command to take care of widows and orphans.

Isaiah 1:17                                

Learn to do right; seek justice.
    Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
    plead the case of the widow.

James 1:27             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.

Joe and I prayed about whether God was directing us to take care of orphans by pursuing foster-to-adopt. We attended a conference about it and then signed up for an official orientation class in our area, but the doors were locked when we arrived (2 minutes late, because of some slow traffic). We knocked on doors and called numbers we had, but to no avail. We took that as literally a closed door, at least for a time.

Four more years past, yet another fertility doctor visited, and we continued to pray about what God wanted us to do. So, last May, Joe went ahead and scheduled another foster orientation, but this time they came to our house. After many training classes and home visits, we were finally licensed for foster-to-adopt a few weeks ago!

Who else are the orphans, widows, or oppressed around you and me?

How might God want you and me to help those around us that are troubled, oppressed, or mistreated?

Alice