Bible verses and stories about adoption that have touched me.

Well, we are almost packed … we got 2 carry-on!

We are very excited to go tomorrow and as we do, I just wanted to share with you some of the scriptures I am been looking at, that speaks directly about the orphans.

Jesus said many things that implied He will honor the good deeds His followers would perform towards people in need. While we were in Brazil this February, I got confronted with Jesus words: “… once I was a stranger and you received me …Lord, when were you a stranger?”

Of course, there is the even more direct statement (for some of us who have a harder time to see the calling on the one above):
" ...whoever welcomes in my name one child such as this, welcomes me." Jesus (as found in Matthew 18 v.5)

I found these portions of the Psalms to be very insightful towards the orphan and the barren women:

Psalm 113: 7 - 9: This Psalm is a promise to me:
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
He seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.
He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children.
Praise the LORD! David -

"God sets the lonely in families..." Psalm 68:6a

Psalm 27:10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.

Psalm 68:5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

Psalm 82:3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

Interesting Old Testaments commandments and truths related to orphans and widows:

DEU 10:18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow,

Deu 26:12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

13 Then say to the LORD your God: "I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.

27:19 "Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

Jer. 49:11 “Leave your orphans; I will protect their lives. Your widows too can trust in me."

And finally, in the New Testament we find a very direct definition:

"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. "
  James 1:27

God saved the life of Moses using an adoptive mother, Pharaoh’s daughter – not just an adoption story but a trans-racial adoption story.

The most moving one to me is the story of Jesus in the cross and John and His mother Mary crying at the foot of the cross asking (I imagine) why? Why do you have to die?, why so much pain? ...
Jesus did not answer their questions – He just looked at them and said “son here is your mother, mother here is your son” and the Bible says that from that day forward, John took Mary to his house as his own mother.

What a beautiful adoption story!!
As I visited last February with older orphans in Brazil I realized that the kids are also looking for parents to adopt.

I have learned that, even today, the best place to meet your adopted son or daughter, your adopted mother or father, is definitely at the foot of the cross: I have been there, asking about my pain … He did not answer my questions "my way" but instead, He asked me to look next to me … also with lots of pain and hurts, the little ones that are missing a mom and a dad …

The world is hurting … I was awaken one night by the Lord with a new song in my lips and it was an eye opener for me .... “if I am sited in Heavenly places with you I should see the world the way you do, I should see a world in pain and suffering, I should feel the urge to bring them Hope “

The Hope of His resurrection!