Blessing the most High God

I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to his will...among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?" Daniel 4:34-35


In these two verses Nebuchadnezzar preaches and declares the simple truth of the sovereignty of God. He had just spent 7 years living as a beast in the field - separated from his kingdom and the company of man - for speaking these very few words:


Is not this great Babylon, that I have built by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? Daniel 4:30


God had warned him in a dream, interpreted by Daniel (Dan. 4: 24-27), that it was to come to past and it did twelve months later. 


God warns us in his word of his curses and he declares in his word his blessings. Though they may seem slow to come by man's reckoning, God's word is true and comes true in his timing. It is our responsibility to not grow weary in the wait nor turn to ourselves (or idols of our choosing) for comfort or exaltation. 


Yet how beautiful it is that though we go through dark times, are separated from all that is comfortable and familiar - like Nebuchadnezzar because of our choices or like Job by God allowance - God is the great restorer! He loves his children and will use those times of chastisement or suffering to cleanse our hearts and sharpen them for his kingdom purposes. 


The Lord promises to never leave us or forsake us; however, faith untried is not real faith. And a saint left to himself and self-exalting is not a saint until he is tried in the fire and emerges "blessing the most High God."


It is not our trials that define us, it is our joy to give God "praise and honor" at the deliverance from those trials that sets us apart as one belonging to His Kingdom!


Blessed be the Most High!

'I Thought' Syndrome

But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 2 Kings 5:11

"I thought..." How many times have we spoken or heard those words to only have them complicate a situation? Our thoughts, despite what our pride leads us to believe, are often immaterial to what needs to happen especially for the Christian. In II kings 5 is the story of a man who had to discover what he thought served only himself and not the greater purpose of trusting and obeying God.

Naaman was a valiant and mighty man, captain of the host of the king of Syria; yet, he had a problem, a disease called leprosy. A young girl taken captive from Israel tells her mistress of a prophet in Samaria who could heal her husband Naaman. Naaman is told of this hopeful news. He approaches his king with the girl's story. The king of Syria granted permission for Naaman to go to the prophet and give him a letter of introduction to the king of Israel. Naaman went to Israel laden with gifts of silver, gold, and ten sets of clothes. After going by way of the king of Israel, who had a very wrong impression of the letter, Naaman finally pulls up in front of Elisha's home. We can only speculate, but Naaman was probably hoping against hope this would work. He comes to Elisha with all kinds of grandeur and huge amounts of payment. It appears as though he is expecting to impress the prophet with his wealth and status. Naaman wanted this to be full of pomp and circumstance, splendor and glory for him. Yet, Elisha never even comes out to see Naaman. He only sends word to tell Naaman what to do to be healed; it was not even that spectacular of a cure. In fact, it was repulsive to Naaman. Go dip in the water of the Jordan River seven times! Naaman was angry and he speaks those immortal words, "I thought...."

How often do we set things up in our mind which is nothing of God's plan? We process, analysis, and legitimize our ideas, our expectations, even our dreams to have God thwart them with something totally simple, totally out of the ordinary, which totally never crossed our mind. Naaman was a captain of the entire Syrian army. He was accustomed to pageantry and ceremony. He was a man who was used to being bowed down to, exalting his position. Naaman expected Elisha to come out to meet him and marvel at his gifts then to call upon the Lord waving his hands over the spot of leprosy thereby healing him. What a jolt to Naaman's ego, Elisha did not even come tot the door but sent a servant with a very simple and quick message. This prophet did nothing Naaman thought he would do; therefore, he wanted to abandon the whole idea and go home. Thankfully for us the story does not stop there. Naaman had wise servants who were not blinded by prestige or wealth. They convinced the great and mighty Naaman to do the simple thing...obey the prophet.

We may fancy ourselves to be great and mighty Christians since we adopted; then tragedy, disappointment, or troubles arise. We go to God in prayer, fasting, good works, and sacrifice, but nothing changes. God says, in the daily burdens and trials of parenting our challenging adopted children, 'trust and obey', we balk; it's to simple, not enough pomp and circumstance. He says, 'suffer the little children to come unto me', we bristle; there is too much suffering, not enough splendor. And He says 'do good to those who hate you', we rage; it requires too much self-dying, not enough glory. You may say, look haven't we been faithful? We tithe 10% of our income, we home school our children, we do family worship, we wear modest clothing, dad leads faithfully and mom submits happily (well, at least both of us try), we eat healthy food (at least mostly), we adopted a child just like you did us, and the list of works goes on.

I thought...we would be blessed and exalted, not persecuted by our family and friends.

I thought...if we obeyed James 1:27 life would be easy and successful, not full of sorrow and suffering.

I thought...if we obeyed Deuteronomy 6 our children would not rebel, breaking our hearts.

The wisdom of Scripture answers with:

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Matthew 5:11

Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Hebrews 5:8

And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. Psalm 9:10

Did you catch that, we are blessed, learning obedience, and God knows us! These are not meant to be panaceas for deep and real hurting pain, but only to expound upon the point; no matter what we are facing. or troubled with, the Lord only wants us to do the simple thing, trust Him and obey His commandments. God's ways are not our ways. He will never glorify the man, only his Son. Naaman humbled himself, obeyed the prophet, and dipped in the Jordan River seven times. We can only wonder if at each coming up out of the water whether his servants saw a change in his skin or if it was not until the coming up out of the water on the seventh dip. Either way Naaman was healed. His obedience made his skin fresh and new like that of a young child.

This same principle works for us today as well. When we obey our Lord as he has set forth in his Word, our heart, relationships, and vision is made fresh and new. Our leprous sin is removed upon his healing Naaman became an ardent worshipper of God. We, too, when we obey cannot help but worship the Lord.

We must try to refrain from the 'I thought' syndrome and teach our children the dangers of it as well. What if Naaman had stomped off when things did not go as he thought? What if he had not listened to the wise counsel of his servants? Pride has a way of exalting us to a level above the simple answer and above godly advice. We must humble ourselves and judge our obedience not by fame, wealth, health, or prestige, but by keeping our eyes on Christ no matter what is going on around us. If the eyes of faith drop, with suffering, trials, or even blessings, then anger or a sense of betrayal may come and the 'I thought' syndrome follows. Naaman learned there was a God in Israel who could do wondrous things. No doubt he shared this news with others. Let us do the same. And when we hear ourselves saying, "I thought..." let the wise counsel of the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit speak to our heart, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

A New Name

And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken. Isaiah 62:2b-4a

To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. Revelation 2:17b

Imagine it. God gives us a new name when He adopts us. Most will not hear that new name until Christ calls them by it in heaven but what joy it will be to hear and even recognize it as ours. During their earthly journey, Abraham, Israel, Peter, and Paul are examples of some who received new names upon their encounter with the Lord. It was a calling out of these men to greater work then they had ever done before. Even the Son of God upon His earthly birth received a new name revealed by an angel to his mother and adoptive father. It was not 'I AM' as it had always been, but "thou shalt call his name Jesus" was God's command.

When we gave a new name to our adopted child it created, and immediately enhanced, the bond and identification of being a part of our family. This new name was the beginning of teaching them that they were a "new creation" in Christ, even before they were saved. It taught them to "lay up for themselves treasure in heaven," not treasures of this world. It declared to them that they have a future not incumbent upon their past.

A name gives value and blessing. How much you value something determines how or if you will name it. When our four children came from Russia, we gave them teddy bears. We asked them what the bear's name was and they looked totally perplexed. Name a toy! Why? It had no value. This was something they had to learn to do. We taught them to add 'value' to their belongings and claim them as their own just as we had given them names to claim them as our own.

When we adopted our two sister beagles, we chose names for them to reflect our family's old fashion names. So they went from being Lucky and Clover to being our dogs named Gertie and Betsy. Also, many people will name their cars. Our fifteen passenger van is called Mike and our 6x8 travel trailer is named Charlie.

When a parent names a child it gives them identity, a sense of purpose and worth. It is a form of blessing them as only a true parent can. We do not know why our children were given their birth-names though we think they are beautiful. But we can always emphatically state to them why they have their given-names from us. A powerful tool when calling a child out to be a godly man or woman!

The feelings of abandonment and isolation from the natural order of life (a mother caring for her child) are present in every adopted child from the new born infant to the married adult with their own children. It is real and foreboding. But it is not who they are! Nor is it who they will be. It is only who they were. The question is not whether they would like to be called by the only names they have ever known (birth-name). The question is what does their heart need?

They need to know in their heart that they belong to their adoptive parents as surely as if they had been born to them and that they are Christ's child. This is the Dad and Mom who had prayed for them, who opened their hearts and home to them though they were strangers, who teaches them of the providential love of God which placed them in their family and of His Kingdom purposes for their lives.

As every Believer knows, adoption by God does not negate our past but defines it. It was ordained before time began. We are all merely living out God's plan which ultimately is to glorify Jesus. The child's new name will always remind them and testify to them of their future every time they hear it or write it.

Copyright © 2007 Robert Sanford. All rights reserved

Our Reward

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and fruit of the womb is his reward....Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. Psalm 127:3&5

How can children be a reward? Whether they are birth or adopted, children come into the world extremely selfish and demanding. And as they grow they seek harder to fulfill those selfish desires. Left to himself a child will be consumed with his selfishness and the desired fulfillment of his demands which make him anything but a reward and blessing. So what really is the blessing of having children?

It goes back to the first argument of why children are not such a blessing. The problem is that in many ways, though with more restraint (hopefully), parents are also selfish and demanding of their own way. We discovered the presence of this the day after our wedding! But it was not until children came that we begin to see the depths of it. For with the child comes a battle of wills. Now spouses will have skirmishes of will but because of their love and devotion to each other and the ability to communicate intelligently (for the most part) with each other, they can usually arrive at a decision that will be satisfactory to both of them. The child comes with no such love or propensity to work things out for the benefit of all parties. He wants, what he wants, when he wants it! We may call this willful. God calls it sin.

Children force us each day to look at the depths of our hearts and actions. As children grow older and take on our characteristics, good and bad, we are faced with a mirror of our self, and our image-bearers may not be pleasing to us. This is one way and a very major way as to why they bless us...we get to see ourselves for who we truly ar!. So if we do not want our offspring to take the same path we are on, we must change.

Since God's greatest desire is for us to love and serve Him with total abandon, for our sin to be real to us (not hidden) and confessed, that we live out daily the fruits of the Spirit, that we stand firm in our faith and work out our salvation, that we obey even unto death, and that the truth of the Scriptures be passed on to future generations, we are blessed with children to teach and train in the Lord. And since we always learn best when we have to teach and set an example we are truly blessed when children are given by the Lord as a reward.

Copyright 2006 Robert Sanford, revised 2010

The Father's Heart

He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Deuteronomy 10:18

In reading through the Bible a theme begins to emerge as to the character and heart of God toward man. Not only is his great love and grace, judgment and mercy revealed, but also the kinds of people to whom he is most compassionate and to whom he commands us to do likewise, meaning widows, orphans, and strangers.

Jesus displayed this truth perfectly. His compassion to strangers (non-Jews) was specifically detailed in scriptures including the Roman soldier's servant, the Gadaranes man, the Syrophonician woman's daughter, and the tenth leper. From Peter's mother-in-law to the widow of Nain to his own mother at the cross, Jesus cared for widows. He even spoke to the greatness of one widow before God in that she gave everything out of her nothing where others gave to the treasury very little compared to their great wealth. A very familiar verse, "suffer the little children to come unto me," is typically applied to mothers bringing their children to be blessed by Jesus. But as we look at the totality of scripture we understand Jesus to mean bring all children to him, i.e.: grandchildren, nieces/nephews, church children, orphans in America or overseas. Believers are to follow Jesus' example. Though we move among equals most of the time, compassion for the stranger, widows, and orphans should be a representative part of our time and interest.

Know ye not that I must be about my Father's business? Even at the tender age of twelve Jesus knew what he was to be about. As Believer's our call is absolutely the same. We must be about our Father's business. To pursue the will of the Father in one's life does not take years of prayer and Bible reading, it only takes obedience to do what the Lord has set your hand to do (duty) and to do it for His glory alone.

What does take years of practice is to die to self and live unto Christ! Yet God does not leave us without ways of working this out to the maximum. He says in James 1:27, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. If you want to really show God your heart is for him then you will do what is his heart.

Do not be fooled, it is by grace that we do anything, but the question is, "How much grace do you want?!" If a little grace is OK with you then just do what fits in your comfort zone. BUT if you want to have grace poured out in heaps, full to overflowing, then step out in faith and do the work of the Father. Go into prisons, and nursing homes. Host a foreign college student. Adopt a child who is fatherless, or generously finance a family who is willing to open their home to an orphan, a stranger, a child! Go into the mission field of another country or state and as you share the Gospel with these strangers, the Lord will bring to you widows and orphans for you to touch in Jesus' name. It is all about the Father's heart.

Where is your heart? God did not prosper this great Nation so that we, as Believers, could lavish 'stuff' on ourselves. He commands us in James 1:27 to keep from being polluted by that mindset. That is why in the same sentence of learning what is pure for a Christian (to take care of widows and orphans) we are told not to do as the world does. John Bunyan rebelled against man to obey God and was locked in prison. William Tyndale rebelled against man to obey God and was burned at the stake. This kind of martyrdom may never be our calling or fate in Christ, but we are to restrain our desires (imprison them) and to die to self, living for Christ's will only. Being a martyr to self must be an every moment decision whereby the Believer is then able to embrace God's ability through grace to do mighty deeds for his kingdom. We need to do as Isaiah and say to the Lord, "Here am I send me."

"I could never do what you do!" How many times have missionaries, pastors, adoptive parents, prison chaplains/volunteers, nursing home workers/volunteers, homeschooling families, and college student hosting families had to listen to those words, and from believers no less! And all that echoes in the heart and mind of the afore mentioned persons is, "But by the grace of God I am what I am." No one does anything for the Kingdom of God except that they stepped out in faith, trusting God's Word, and the Lord pouring out in torrents his grace upon their obedience. And where does that obedience come. It comes from a desire to do the Father's will and to live the Father's heart as revealed plainly in Scripture.

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:40

Copyright 2006 Robert Sanford, revised 2010

The Tie That Binds

Adoption is the embracing of another parent's child as your own with all due rights and privileges as if they were born to you. Yet this child has a life that proceeded you whether it was the nine months in utero or years in the care of birth-family. There are invisible ties to those voices, those faces, those inner impressions that can never be removed. And when taken from their birth-mother the ties may be stretched but they never break. The issue is how will the child and their subsequent adoptive family handle these wounds, memories, and feelings.

Children respond to all stimuli externally or internally from a sinful selfish perspective. They may even make vows in their hearts to do or not to do a thing though they know no words or formal language yet. Impressions and selfishness will drive their motives and state of being even when they are in utero.

Younger children or infants may seem perfectly content with their life in the adoptive family until around age 10-12. Then as the hormones begin to intensify and the child becomes more aware of who they are in the world questions arise such as, "Where did I came from?" and, "Why did my birth-mom give me up?" This especially intensifies if they are rebelling in their hearts against the Lord's command to 'honor thy father and mother'.

Older children, however, come with deep wounds, questions, and/or strong emotions towards birth-mother already in place. They have more than likely been cared for by birth-mom to an age of understanding but due to neglect, disease, or death are placed in an orphanage or foster care home by well meaning officials. Due to this, the child will often times personify contempt towards self and others. "If only I were different I would not have been 'taken' away from my mom." Or "You people are terrible and I will never like you because I will love only my 'real' mom."

Anger, confusion, betrayal flood the child's heart. Vows will be made. Walls will be build. Doors will be bolted shut. Their heart will become an impregnable fortress and their actions will declare their feelings loud and clear. You cannot get in here!! This invisible tie to the birth-family binds the child's capacity to receive and give love. It binds their ability to trust and be trustworthy. The motivating factor for all of these reactions is just good old-fashion sin. It develops from the child's desire to preserve self and exalt their desires over what is best for them. The matter is never truly resolved in the children's heart until they get to the point where they want to face truth.

Truth alone is what loosens the ties that bind and creates ribbons of strength that will stay unfurl in the calm or storms of life with the adoptive family. And that truth which will set them free is only found in Jesus. He is "the Way and the Truth and the Life." It is all about Christ. He is the key to unlocking the doors, taking down the bricks one by one, and confessed vows breaking their hold. His truth will rush in like a flood releasing the captives to love and be loved, to trust and be trusted. For "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36

Copyright 2006 Robert Sanford, revised 2010

Adoption Matters

A father of the fatherless...is God in his holy habitation. God setteth the solitary in families. Psalm 68:5-6a

There has been and will always be orphans, children devoid of parents either by abandonment, death, or disease. That is why the Bible speaks over 60 times about visiting the fatherless in their oppression and reaching out to the fatherless.

That is why Adoption Matters.

God declares He is the "father of the fatherless" and true religion unadulterated is to "visit the fatherless...in their affliction" yet for centuries the average Christian in the world has overlooked the plight of the orphan. The Church had not risen up to do what God has set forth as a standard and avenue to receive great blessing through caring for orphans. However, it is just "such as time as this" that hearts toward orphans are beginning to change.

In the first century church Christians looked after the orphans of their cities. It was an outgrowth of their understanding of the scriptures as well as following the example set by their Jewish predecessors. The custom of their faith was to take orphans and give them to childless couples. Children were also placed with widows for the mutual benefit of each looking after the other. R.J. Rushdoony wrote in his book "The Atheism of the Early Church":

.... when the unwanted babies were born, they were promptly taken and abandoned under the bridges of the river Tiber in Rome. In other cities there were places which were routinely used for abandoning babies.

The Christians made it their habit immediately to go to the places where these babies were abandoned — to be devoured, as Tertullian said, by wild dogs — to collect these infants and parcel them out from family to family. This tells us something about the life of faith among these believers. How many members of congregations today would welcome an officer of the church coming by with an abandoned baby or two, and feel it was their duty to rear them in faith!1

This tradition can be seen today in part with Crisis Pregnancy Centers, foster care systems, orphanages/children’s homes, and adoption agencies. But instead of "an officer of the church" placing the orphans in homes it is the Lord moving the hearts of his people to pursue adoption.

In fact, adoption is becoming a rampant norm in America. You may be seeing it played out in micro-version within your home and/or community but it is actually becoming a national phenomena. More precise Christians are being called by the Lord to adopt or to participate in facilitating adoptions like never before seen in this country. Part of that explosion can possibly be explained in the fact that adoption does not carry with it the stigma that it did 50 years ago or even 20 years ago. At that time adoption was considered what to do when you could not have a birth-child, not what to do in spite of birth-children. (This is still the case in countries such as Russia and the Philippines where adoption is seen as a stigma. Therefore even Christians do not step out in faith to take in their own orphans and countrymen.) Also the mind change that is apparently occurring in Christians asserts "It is not about having children. But it is about reaching out to children who need a family, who need to know Christ, who need discipleship to follow Christ."

The Lord is doing this marvelous work! It is reminiscent of the early church. And that too is why Adoption Matters are on the rise. Bringing strangers into your established home and expectations, especially if they are older children, is often akin to combining fire and gasoline in your kitchen. Not a practice conducive to peace and joy! Yet if God has placed this call on a family, then they are to trust him as well as be obedient to this work. Adoption issues are as diverse and involved as the children and families they affect. Yet there are common threads of grace. Our desire is to be a ‘voice crying in the wilderness’ to lead the way for adoptive homes to be full of peace and joy and not regret and misery. Our hope and prayer is that Christian families who risk all to bring an orphan into their home may bear witness to the Lord’s glory through the calling on their lives to adopt.

Adoption Matters because God’s heart is for the fatherless and He calls Christians to the work of caring for them.

Adoption Matters are as varied and distinct as the families who open their hearts and homes to orphans.

That is why Adoption Matters.

1. R.J. Rushdoony, The Atheism of the Early Church (Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1983, 2000), 10.

Copyright 2006 Robert Sanford, revised 2010