Defending Widows

Micah 2:2

"They covet fields and seize them; they also take houses. They deprive a man of his home, a person of his inheritance."

We live in a society where it is easy to steal small things but much harder to steal big things like houses and farms. In Micah's day, and in much of the world today, that is not the case. Many people do not have legal documents to prove ownership of land and even when they do, officials are often easily bribed. In Matthew 23 Jesus specifically called out the Pharisees for preying on widows, and again, that is still the case today. It is very common in Africa, for example, for a man to die and for his widow to be illegally run off of the property by others, greedy to seize it. Widows not only need active help in need, they also need to be defended from those who would take advantage of their weakness.

Starter Prayer: Father, over and over again in Scripture you declare that you are the defender of the widow and the orphan, that you will call to account those who oppress and exploit them. We pray for the weak around the world who find their property taken from them by those who are richer and more powerful than they are. We look forward to the reign of justice that will happen when Jesus returns. We ask you to help us hope for riches in heaven that can never be taken away.