Daily Devotional for Sunday, July 6

Widows

“The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to married to whom she will; only in the Lord,” 1 Corinthians 7:39.

Jesus cares about the details. He notices things. And they matter to Him. As a child, I often wondered if there were certain things off limits in regard to prayer. As a twelve-year-old in the deer woods, I wanted to pray for a big buck to come by, but was that right? As an eighteen-year-old, I wanted to pray for true love, but did God even care? And I know almost every adult has prayed for a car to start at one point or another. Jesus is involved in the details. Remember, He knows the sparrow and the number of hairs on our heads.

Jesus cares about the destitute and those on the margin, people who are often overlooked or underestimated. It is amazing to see how many times widows are mentioned in the New Testament. The needs of widows come to the forefront in Acts. The importance of widows is highlighted in James. The role in the church of caring for widows is discussed in 1 Timothy. In our passage, the right of widows to remarry is honored. So often in society, a widow is seen only as a person to be helped or pitied. Scripture honors the widow in multiple ways, including seeing that she still has the full range of human needs and emotions, including remarriage. The Word honors her liberty to continue on with life, even, in many ways, starting a new one.

You cannot walk away from the Scriptures—the gospels, Acts, the Epistles, anywhere—without seeing Jesus’ great care for the details and those living out of the spotlight. When you begin to feel like you are slipping to the margin of life, cry out to Jesus. He cares.

REFLECTION

An infinite God needs not to stay focused—He can attend to all things, great and small, with equal attention and presence.

Jason Rutherford