"Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 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 repay their parents and grandparents. Such a life is pleasing to God. The widow, who is truly in need and left all alone, is to put her hope in God, continuously praying to God, night and day, asking God for help."
Two of Eighteen Orphans at Grandma's House
What do you see in the above photo?
Two young boys? Perhaps brothers?
One boy blowing on a fire beneath a blackened kettle?
Banana leaves wrapped around food in the blackened kettle?
The boy to the right picking up charcoal that could be fuel for the fire? Bits of charcoal on the ground and in the bucket. The boy on the right dressed in a ragged shirt, with a hole in the left arm and back. Two more kettles to the far right, maybe indicating a cooking hut.
You don’t see this is a cooking hut for a grandmother who is caring for eighteen orphans. Yes, eighteen orphans. The number is overwhelming. The amount of death and suffering for the grandma and grandchildren is overwhelming. The number of mouths to feed is overwhelming. Can any human being truly fathom what it means to take care of eighteen grandchildren? All the work? All the worry? All the exhaustion?
When God, in the book of Timothy, says that there "are widows who are truly in need," this particular widow seems to easily qualify.
When the Bible suggests that such truly needy widows cry out to God day and night for hope and help, we can imagine this particular widow pleading with God day and night to handle and face her situation. We cannot grasp her pain or challenge but we can grasp that she is pleading with God for help. This particular grandma is a real person but is also symbolic of the overwhelming despair and challenge that we as a human community are facing in Africa because of poverty, AIDS and orphans.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY: Lord Jesus Christ. When evil surrounds us and destroys all our resources, we pray that you will provide for us when we truly have nothing but our faith in you. Please God, hear all such widows who cry out to you night and day. In Jesus Name.
This is the thirteenth in a series of thirty digital devotions written by LWR board member and ELCA pastor, Ed Markquart.
Please click here for a list of other devotions in this series.
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