When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.
Even if father and mother should do the unthinkable and abandon their child, the Lord Himself will receive him and take him in and care for him as a father. To be forsaken by parents and friends and left alone does not mean to be left without help, for the Lord sees the grief and tears of the forsaken and has compassion and does not abandon them. His love does not change or fail when human loved ones fail or are lost, but He remains closer than family as refuge and protector and tender Father through every trouble. He supplies the care both parents would have given, keeping orphans and homeless children alive and sustaining them, even moving the hearts of others to care for them. So the promise comforts the lonely and the orphan and the burdened sinner cast down by guilt and accusation, and those cast off by family for keeping the Sabbath and choosing the right way, that God will receive them and keep them.
Setting and Language
Psalm 27:10 stands in the first book of the Psalms, Psalms 12 to 41, as a Psalm of David rooted in his keeping his flock under the stars and leading them to green pastures, in his fleeing from Saul whom he spared, in his being surrounded by treacherous foes, and in his being marvelously delivered on the field of victory. It breathes mistrust of his own strength and exaltation of God's power, with confidence in God's might and goodness and assurance of the ultimate overthrow of all wickedness and the triumph of all good. Like every psalm in that group it gives wonderful lessons of trust and confidence in God, reveals something of the experience of Christ, great David's greater Son, and meets great needs in every condition in life.
The Psalms are songs giving comfort in grief and trial and help in discouragement, pointing to God's willingness and power to save. They give assurance of divine help and of final deliverance from persecutors, as in the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives. They often move from a sense of need to triumph and confidence in God, and this psalm is recommended for times of sadness or discouragement.
The forsaking of a child by father and mother is the most improbable thing that can be imagined. Even when a child is dishonored, disgraced, and trodden under foot, the tender, yearning heart of a true father or mother still follows the erring child to prison, to the dungeon, to the very gallows, despising the shame, to snatch him from ruin and show him the way of life. Against that background the promise stands that even if such unthinkable forsaking occurred, the Lord will take the forsaken one up, proving His love unfailing.
The Lord's taking up means receiving, taking in, and caring for the forsaken one as a father. It means being his brother and sympathizer when even father and mother abandon him. When people close their hearts against a person, God opens His heart to receive that person.
God's Faithful Care
When father and mother forsake, the Lord takes the forsaken one in and cares for him, so that human rejection never leaves a person without help. He knows the grief of one so abandoned, sees the tears, and has compassion, and He does not abandon but receives and remains a support even when friends and companions also turn against. His love is unchangeable, a refuge and protector through every trouble when human loved ones fail or are lost. He is closer than family and remains a source of strength when human support fails, and as a tender, loving Father He keeps care over one distressed by grief and wrong and left alone, giving peaceful rest by His strength and never letting him go forlorn.
Even when both parents are lost, the Lord provides the care they would have given, and His care is sufficient through life's trials. He cares for orphans and homeless children and preserves them alive, sustaining them by moving the hearts of others to love their neighbor as themselves. He can more than supply the place left vacant when parents die, giving the orphan confident hope in His care and grace. His love still offers hope and forgiveness to the wayward when human love fails, and His care reaches those who are weak and inexperienced and most at risk of falling. That welcome is seen in Jesus' readiness to receive sinners and be their friend, entering the life of anyone who opens the heart to Him.
Even if friends forsake and the world is against a person, the Lord will take him up and care for him. If all earthly friends forsake, He will still take up, protect, and remain a friend, giving assurance when human companionship fails. Trusting Jesus when friends forsake keeps a person safe and leads him home. Such trust expresses confidence in God as strength, with hope fixed on heaven.
Comfort for the Forsaken
The promise comforts lonely people when human support fails, assuring that even if both parents forsake them the Lord will receive and care for them. It meets loneliness and trust in God while feeling like a stranger in the world, for when even the closest family forsakes a person the Lord takes that person in. Children left alone by father and mother, when both parents are gone or lost, are received and cared for by the Lord, bringing comfort to orphans in loneliness and suffering. That assurance is better than medicine for the afflicted heart, comforting an orphan girl and answering an orphan's need for a home and loving care, and a child taught to pray is never truly alone even if left without a parent.
There is hope for fallen and forsaken outcasts because divine reception is assured if they will only seek Him and cast themselves and their cares upon Him, for He cares for them. The promise is God's own word of reception for the burdened sinner who has fallen into open sin and feels guilt and misery. Such a one finds the world against him, receives no encouraging words, doubts anyone will believe his repentance sincere, and is surrounded by fault-finding accusers ready to cast stones. Pointing such despairing souls to this promise can save them from going over the precipice of despair, as Jesus exemplified when the sinful woman was brought to Him, neither excusing her sin nor commending her accusers, but teaching charity toward the guilty.
The promise assures those who keep the Sabbath despite fear of losing family, and those rejected by family for holding to the right way, that God will not abandon them but will receive and care for them. It calls Christ's followers to speak for themselves and choose what is right even if closest family and friends and everyone else abandons them. When the queen of England gives up the people of Pitcairn Island for accepting the Sabbath truth, the King of heaven will take them in. Earthly parents and protectors and governments may forsake believers and withdraw their ships and favor, but the Lord receives and keeps those abandoned for obeying Him, so His care replaces human protection.
When religious authorities fail to intervene against harm, those who believe in temperance are called to look to the Lord and seek His help, for He receives and cares for them even when father and mother abandon them. A forsaken child may be taken up by someone else, as in the story where the child answers that the police will do so. The image warns parents, society, and churches to care for children whose parents neglect them, or those children may come to harm.
Even if father and mother should do the unthinkable and abandon their child, the Lord Himself will receive him and take him in and care for him as a father. To be forsaken by parents and friends and left alone does not mean to be left without help, for the Lord sees the grief and tears of the forsaken and has compassion and does not abandon them. His love does not change or fail when human loved ones fail or are lost, but He remains closer than family as refuge and protector and tender Father through every trouble. He supplies the care both parents would have given, keeping orphans and homeless children alive and sustaining them, even moving the hearts of others to care for them. So the promise comforts the lonely and the orphan and the burdened sinner cast down by guilt and accusation, and those cast off by family for keeping the Sabbath and choosing the right way, that God will receive them and keep them.
Setting and Language
Psalm 27:10 stands in the first book of the Psalms, Psalms 12 to 41, as a Psalm of David rooted in his keeping his flock under the stars and leading them to green pastures, in his fleeing from Saul whom he spared, in his being surrounded by treacherous foes, and in his being marvelously delivered on the field of victory. It breathes mistrust of his own strength and exaltation of God's power, with confidence in God's might and goodness and assurance of the ultimate overthrow of all wickedness and the triumph of all good. Like every psalm in that group it gives wonderful lessons of trust and confidence in God, reveals something of the experience of Christ, great David's greater Son, and meets great needs in every condition in life.
The Psalms are songs giving comfort in grief and trial and help in discouragement, pointing to God's willingness and power to save. They give assurance of divine help and of final deliverance from persecutors, as in the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives. They often move from a sense of need to triumph and confidence in God, and this psalm is recommended for times of sadness or discouragement.
The forsaking of a child by father and mother is the most improbable thing that can be imagined. Even when a child is dishonored, disgraced, and trodden under foot, the tender, yearning heart of a true father or mother still follows the erring child to prison, to the dungeon, to the very gallows, despising the shame, to snatch him from ruin and show him the way of life. Against that background the promise stands that even if such unthinkable forsaking occurred, the Lord will take the forsaken one up, proving His love unfailing.
The Lord's taking up means receiving, taking in, and caring for the forsaken one as a father. It means being his brother and sympathizer when even father and mother abandon him. When people close their hearts against a person, God opens His heart to receive that person.
God's Faithful Care
When father and mother forsake, the Lord takes the forsaken one in and cares for him, so that human rejection never leaves a person without help. He knows the grief of one so abandoned, sees the tears, and has compassion, and He does not abandon but receives and remains a support even when friends and companions also turn against. His love is unchangeable, a refuge and protector through every trouble when human loved ones fail or are lost. He is closer than family and remains a source of strength when human support fails, and as a tender, loving Father He keeps care over one distressed by grief and wrong and left alone, giving peaceful rest by His strength and never letting him go forlorn.
Even when both parents are lost, the Lord provides the care they would have given, and His care is sufficient through life's trials. He cares for orphans and homeless children and preserves them alive, sustaining them by moving the hearts of others to love their neighbor as themselves. He can more than supply the place left vacant when parents die, giving the orphan confident hope in His care and grace. His love still offers hope and forgiveness to the wayward when human love fails, and His care reaches those who are weak and inexperienced and most at risk of falling. That welcome is seen in Jesus' readiness to receive sinners and be their friend, entering the life of anyone who opens the heart to Him.
Even if friends forsake and the world is against a person, the Lord will take him up and care for him. If all earthly friends forsake, He will still take up, protect, and remain a friend, giving assurance when human companionship fails. Trusting Jesus when friends forsake keeps a person safe and leads him home. Such trust expresses confidence in God as strength, with hope fixed on heaven.
Comfort for the Forsaken
The promise comforts lonely people when human support fails, assuring that even if both parents forsake them the Lord will receive and care for them. It meets loneliness and trust in God while feeling like a stranger in the world, for when even the closest family forsakes a person the Lord takes that person in. Children left alone by father and mother, when both parents are gone or lost, are received and cared for by the Lord, bringing comfort to orphans in loneliness and suffering. That assurance is better than medicine for the afflicted heart, comforting an orphan girl and answering an orphan's need for a home and loving care, and a child taught to pray is never truly alone even if left without a parent.
There is hope for fallen and forsaken outcasts because divine reception is assured if they will only seek Him and cast themselves and their cares upon Him, for He cares for them. The promise is God's own word of reception for the burdened sinner who has fallen into open sin and feels guilt and misery. Such a one finds the world against him, receives no encouraging words, doubts anyone will believe his repentance sincere, and is surrounded by fault-finding accusers ready to cast stones. Pointing such despairing souls to this promise can save them from going over the precipice of despair, as Jesus exemplified when the sinful woman was brought to Him, neither excusing her sin nor commending her accusers, but teaching charity toward the guilty.
The promise assures those who keep the Sabbath despite fear of losing family, and those rejected by family for holding to the right way, that God will not abandon them but will receive and care for them. It calls Christ's followers to speak for themselves and choose what is right even if closest family and friends and everyone else abandons them. When the queen of England gives up the people of Pitcairn Island for accepting the Sabbath truth, the King of heaven will take them in. Earthly parents and protectors and governments may forsake believers and withdraw their ships and favor, but the Lord receives and keeps those abandoned for obeying Him, so His care replaces human protection.
When religious authorities fail to intervene against harm, those who believe in temperance are called to look to the Lord and seek His help, for He receives and cares for them even when father and mother abandon them. A forsaken child may be taken up by someone else, as in the story where the child answers that the police will do so. The image warns parents, society, and churches to care for children whose parents neglect them, or those children may come to harm.