No Orphans of God

Isaiah 1:17 (NLT)

¹⁷ Learn to do good.
    Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
    Defend the cause of orphans.
    Fight for the rights of widows.

At a presentation last night, I listened to a short-term missionary speak about his trip to the other side the globe and his visit to an orphanage. The children in the orphanage all carry HIV, but none of them have AIDS. Their country has deemed them ineligible for adoption. They look perfectly normal...sweet little babies and smiling older children. All of them appeared happy to interact with the mission team. I thought about how that orphanage which is not run by Christians is a prison of sorts for them. It protects the world from them.
In the same presentation, we heard from the team with whom my husband went into one of our state prisons. The prisoners, for a different reason than the children, are kept away from society for our protection. These are two completely different kinds of prison, yet both groups equally need to know  "there are no orphans of God" as the Avalon song says. One speaker said of the prisoners, "they are physically restrained, but they can be spiritually free."
There are two applications here...
First, are you imprisoned by your circumstances either innocently like the children or by your own doing like the prisoners? Do you realize you can be spiritually set free? Christ Jesus came to set us free. Surrender in this case is the first step to freedom. Will you surrender your life to Jesus?
Second, who do you know who is in prison...circumstantially or spiritually? Will you go into their cell/their orphanage/their village and love them in the name of Jesus?

Hebrews 13:3 (NLT)

³ Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.