God seems to have a superior affection for orphans and widows and the poor simply because they are the most vulnerable among us. God has widows, orphans, and the vulnerable (poor) at heart. His desire is for them to be loved, protected, and sheltered. There are instances in His word where He vowed to deal with anyone who dealt with orphans wrongly. Find out some scriptures about Orphans, widows, and the poor.

• Psalm 147:3. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

• You probably know it. James 1:27. “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.”

• Psalm 68:5. Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation

• Exodus 22:21-24 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless

• James 2:14-17. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

• Deuteronomy 10:18. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing

• Jeremiah 49:11. Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive, and let your widows trust in me.

• John 14:18. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
• Job 29:12. Because I delivered the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had none to help him

• Proverbs 19:17. Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

• Isaiah 10:2. To turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

• Psalm 94:6. They kill the widow and the sojourner and murder the fatherless

• Proverbs 23:10. Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless

• 1 John 3:17-18. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but indeed and in truth.

• Job 22:9. You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.

• Job 31:16-18. “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow)

• Job 6:27. You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend.

• Galatians 2:10. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do

• Acts 20:35. In all things, I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.

• Jeremiah 22:16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the Lord.

• Isaiah 41:17. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
• Deuteronomy 26:12-13. “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.

• Esther 2:7. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his daughter.

• Isaiah 58:10. If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

• Job 29:12-13. Because I delivered the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had none to help him. The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

• Proverbs 28:27. Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

• Proverbs 22:16. Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

• Proverbs 21:13. Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.

A lot of us donate to a charity for a reason. Before the majority of people give time, or money, they would have had something motivating them. For instance, people who show empathy for orphans and the vulnerable might have: 

• Grown up in care

• been involved in a group that does charity

 • Felt moved when they heard someone share a heartbreaking personal story at an event or in the news 

• Experienced childhood neglect or abuse personally

This is not what God wants to do but rather, our Father desires that we give and support orphans and the vulnerable regardless. Ye are the light of the world.