What Is a Bible Verse about Helping Orphans and Widows?
A Bible verse about helping orphans and widows is James 1:27: “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
This verse gives us incredibly practical steps for living out our faith. It’s clear throughout Scripture that widows and orphans are always on the heart of God. It’s clearly stated in Exodus 22:22, “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.”
By the time we reach the New Testament, many of Jesus’s teachings, as well as the Apostles’, aren’t just about what not to do, but what to do as a result of our faith.
GFA missionaries live out these verses and demonstrate their faith by seeking out widows in some of the hardest places on earth, where widows are often destitute. They may live in slums, be forced to beg, struggle to survive and be vulnerable to violence and discrimination.. For many widows, one of the worst parts of widowhood is the isolation they experience.
In places such as Asia and Africa, widows commonly bear the burden of stigma and discrimination, in addition to their grief. They may be blamed for their husband’s death and viewed as cursed.[1] It’s commonplace for widows’ own families to reject them, leaving them to fend for themselves.
In the face of these heartbreaking facts, you can help in two very important ways.
1. Pray: Lift up to our Father in heaven widows’ financial and emotional needs.
Pray for widows’ safety, the missionaries who serve them, the communities who can love them and for changed hearts and minds. Learn more about how to specifically pray for widows here: https://www.gfa.org/pray/widows/
2. Give: Donate to GFA World’s widows and abandoned children fund.
Your gift will provide relief to these precious people, as well as provide ways for them to be more self-sufficient. This is an essential way to love them well.
Every prayer and gift will touch the lives of women who are often unseen and uncared for. GFA missionaries long to reach into these difficult and lonely places where widows suffer greatly. Join GFA World in this work that God so clearly shows His heart for in Scripture. The “least of these” (see Matthew 25:40) need the love of Jesus Christ to break through their bleak circumstances and show them hope.
Learn more about charities that help widows[1] “Irish Cursing and the Art of Magic, 1750–2018.” Oxford Academic. https://academic.oup.com/past/article/247/1/113/5721469?login=true. February 3, 2020.