How often do you feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of a problem? Or overwhelmed by the significance of the call? Or the degree of responsibility to which your given? I just finishing read a good post about orphan care from Trevin Wax (click his name to read it). After reading his two posts I left like this; overwhelmed, insignificant, useless. When thinking about the helpless unborn baby or the orphan left alone without a family, I can quickly lose hope. I can feel demobilize and stuck. And yet, I believe in the Bible. I believe the words are straight from God and I can not call myself a Christ follower and choose to disregard some of his commands simply because I feel inadequate. In James 1:27 I am given the command to care for the orphan. In many other places in God’s Word Jesus shows me the importance in caring for the least of these. Many challenges given by Jesus to His followers could lead us to feel inadequate, useless or helpless. Just consider His last words before ascending back into Heaven to sit down at the right-hand of God, “All authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20)
What a huge challenge, what a weighty command! Go into all Nations and win them over to Him, baptize them and then teach them everything in the Bible!! What a task, what a huge mission!!
So what keeps me from throwing my hands up in surrender and just giving up the fight? What keeps me hopeful? Well, two things actually.
The very last words of Jesus in what is known as the Great Commission, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” You see, our command to make disciples is sandwiched between a statement about God’s power and God’s rule. God is the one who will enable me to be a change agent in His command to care for the orphan. The Holy Spirit, that is at work in Christ followers, is the power source to do the will of God. So, because I am not capable of bring about any great change on my own I rely on God who is capable of all things. He has chosen to work through His people.
The other thing that gives me hope and keeps me engaged in the command to care for the orphan is the infinite worth in each human life (because we are made in the image of God). That each orphan that is cared for is a work that matters, a life that matters! We will never end a crisis has big as the orphan crisis in a single day. So we take small steps and pray that God will use us. We do our part, however small it may seem, and trust that God is at work. We engage, even though we know our motives are not pure and our ways are not always right. We pray and seek the Lord for guidance. We step out in faith and take risks that we feel led by God to take. We do it all humbly and grateful that God uses us in His mission to redeem and restore the World. We know that in the end of time God will right all the wrongs and there will be no more suffering and no more orphans.
