Does God care about orphans?

I returned from Nepal a week ago. There I taught the 4th session of the International Institute for Inductive Bible Study. The session was attended by 42 students and each of them, with a great zeal, studies the Word of God. Among all the students was a student named Ajay. One day, while talking to him, I found out the story of his life that shook me. Below I would like to tell you a little about him.

Ajay’s life begins in a small village, 500 km from the capital of Nepal. At only 3 years old, Ajay, along with his older brother and sister, lost their mother… immediately afterward his father left them and went to India to work. But when he left, he never returned home. After his father left them, Ajay stayed at his father’s brother’s house. But when he turned 4, he had to go and work. His uncle, also very poor, could no longer keep him at home. So, at the age of only 4, Ajay was already working as a servant in a house of rich people. For 10 years he worked in this house as a servant.

You would have thought that if the family that took him to work were rich, then they would have taken care of his needs, as well. Not even close! Every day, without a day off, Ajay started work at 4 o’clock in the morning and finished it at 12 o’clock at night. Do you realize that this 4-year-old child, who still needs a lot of sleep and rest to have a healthy growth, slept only 4 hours out of 24? And this lasted exactly 10 years. This was his way of life for ten years. And do you know what his monthly salary was? Zero. I’m not kidding. Ajay worked hard these ten years without a salary. All the rich family offered him was food and a place to sleep, nothing else. From time to time, if any of their children’s clothes were too old, or they didn’t like them, they could give them to him. But apart from food, the rich family also offered Ajay something. Namely: hatred, beatings and great contempt. If during the day he was caught sitting and not working, he was beaten very badly. He was not allowed to play with the family’s children.

This family, being rich, could afford to hire private teachers for their children. Ajay was not allowed to go to school with other children and was not allowed to study with the children in the house where he worked. But he had a great desire: to learn. Many times, he hid, and secretly listened to the lessons taught in the house. But if he was caught doing it, he was beaten again. When I was talking to him, I didn’t even notice how tears began to flow from the eyes of this 22-year-old boy. Then he said to me: even now, I am horrified when I remember what beatings I received and what contempt I went through in that house! Can you imagine living for 10 years in such circumstances? Ten years, in which every day you are beaten, despised, ugly and alone. As a child, what a great need he would have had to have someone to play with, someone to exchange a word with, to hear a sweet word from his mother’s mouth, but he was deprived of all this…. and you think, where was God then? Did He forget this poor orphan?

I told you at the beginning that Ajay had another brother and an older sister. A year after their father left, his older brother went to work in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. After ten years, he found a better paying job and was finally able to take Ajay out of his tormentors’ house and bring him to Kathmandu. At the same time, his brother started going to a church, where he received the Lord Jesus. Of course, his brother also invited Ajay to this church.

“For the first time in my life, I felt that someone loved me, that someone cared about me and wanted to listen to my opinion,” Ajay confessed. Shortly after he began attending church, he accepted the Lord Jesus as Lord and Savior in his life.

When he came to town, he went to school. Finally, his dream of having an education came true! Thus, this year he will go to the University for his first year. Ajay is now studying with these 42 students at the Biblical Institute of Inductive Study here in Kathmandu. He is one of the best and most persevering students.

“By learning to study the Bible using the Inductive method, I was able to grow spiritually in a short time. It was as if my eyes were opened and now God has given me a tool to help me understand any passage in the Bible,” Ajay confessed. He is now one of the translators who translated for me from English to Nepali. Also, since he came to the Institute, he has opened 2 groups in which he systematically teaches the Word of God according to the Inductive method, one of them being a group of orphaned children — children who are now going through exactly the same pain and feelings that he once went through. But now for these orphaned children, their pain is alleviated by the Word of God taught by Ajay. And who can understand these children better than Ajay understands them now?

What a tragic past, but what a beautiful present! How wonderful is our God. He can restore any life shattered by pain, tears and contempt.

For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 NASB)

Yes, God cares about orphans! He loves orphans, and when they return to Him wholeheartedly, the Lord Jesus promises them:

I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-18 NASB)

What is your life, dear reader? When life seems a ruin, when the future seems dark without any hope, where do you run for help?

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe. (Proverbs 18:10 NASB)

Translated by Ina Croitoru