18 July, 2025
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. – Isaiah 1: 17
Almighty God, You are Just and Merciful. You call Your people to do what is right and to defend the orphans and widows. They are commands rooted in Your own heart for justice. The three most vulnerable groups are the oppressed, the fatherless, and the widow. Your command is that their suffering was not to be ignored, but confronted. The same is true today. The oppressed are those weighed down by injustice, those suffering under the burden of wrongdoing. Defending them is more than offering comfort. It means stepping up, challenging oppression at its source, refusing to be passive in the face of evil.
In Your design, parents are provided as protectors and champions for their children. But in a broken world, many children are left without defenders, vulnerable to harm. Taking up their cause means more than acknowledging their need—it means stepping in, seeing their struggles as our own, and becoming the hands and feet of Jesus on their behalf. In Isaiah’s time, a woman without a husband often had no security or provision. Many face deep hardship after losing their spouse. Pleading their case isn’t just about sympathy—it’s about advocacy, ensuring they are not ignored, mistreated, or left without support.
Lord, you teach us that justice is not separate from faith, but it is an expression of it. To follow Jesus is to care about what He cares about, to love those He loves, and to take action on behalf of those who cannot fight for themselves. It is what it means to be a child of God . Help us Father, to seek justice, and thus reflect the heart of our God, for You are always near to the brokenhearted, always championing the cause of the vulnerable, and always working through Your people to bring justice to the world. We pray that we may become firm advocates fo these marginalized groups of people, helping their cause in Jesus’ Name. Amen