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Last week, I shared with you Grace’s story and how her uncle wanted to pull her out of school and marry her off. Grace, her siblings and mother were dependent on him for support. He decided to use that to get his way. He told Grace’s mother: “I won’t support you any more. Go back to your father’s house and send your children away to the orphanage, then!” When Grace’s mother still refused to allow her daughter to drop out, he beat this brave widow.
God has a heart for injustice among the widow, orphan, and stranger because these three groups were among the most vulnerable to injustice in Biblical times.
Just as much as when the Prophet Isaiah wrote about bringing justice to the fatherless, the fatherless continue to face injustices in Egypt today.
It is an injustice that Grace’s uncle can’t see her potential in Christ.
It is an injustice that Grace’s uncle instead sees her as a commodity for the marriage market, held up and valued against a superficial preference for a certain standardized “look.”
It is an injustice that because Grace has no earthly father, she has no say in her future.
It is an injustice that orphanages in Egypt are filled with children who have living mothers who can’t afford to feed them.
Our Heavenly Father is moved by the sufferings of His children.
Christ wants to share the passion of His Fatehr’s heart with us, too. He uses us, His Church, as His hands to redress such injustices.
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. (Psalm 68:5, ESV)