Oh Little Orphan Boy, While You Were Sleeping

I have a heart for adoption and I love to see orphans given families to join.  It is a beautiful picture of the gospel and what God does for us.  God uses adoption to complete families and also to give children families which they so desperately need.  I know many people who have adopted.  I know many who have adopted internationally and domestically.  I also know of several adults who were adopted as children.  It is a wonderful temporal picture of what Christ offers to us for eternity.

I know of one particular family who has adopted a boy.  Due to events in this boy’s life prior to adoption he does not trust family or parents.  Therefore, he does everything he can to push his adoptive family away – particularly his adoptive parents.  He is scared to death of what could happen if he decides to trust his parents and actually join the family.  The problem is that the only thing that can ensure his safety is him trusting his parents and joining the family.  By not trusting and attaching to his parents he feels safe by not making himself vulnerable but that is actually a very dangerous place to be.  He has got to trust his parents in order to be truly safe within the bonds of family.

As I think about this boy, I am reminded of a song by Casting Crowns called While You Were Sleeping.  Here is the song on youtube.   The lyrics are below.   The first verse is about Bethlehem and what they missed out on that night that baby Jesus was born.  While Bethlehem was sleeping, they missed out on God becoming a man and coming to live among humanity.  They missed out on the King of kings and Lord of lords.  Bethlehem missed out on God becoming flesh that night.

The second verse is about Jerusalem.  The savior of the world was among the people of Jerusalem.  They beheld the Way, the Truth and the Life but they rejected him and put him to death on the cross.  They missed out on their king.

The third verse is about the United States of America.  America turned her back on God in favor of philosophies which turned her away from God.  America is a nation that now has no room for God.

This is a song about Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the United States of America – all of whom turned their back on God.  The only one in human history who can save any of them is Jesus and Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the United States all turned their back on Him and rejected him.  He was in Bethlehem but there was no room for Him.  He was in Jerusalam but they crucified him.  He is available for America but the USA has turned her back on God as well.

This is where the boy I mentioned earlier comes into the picture.  He has been given a family by God.  They have adopted him but he is too afraid to join it, thereby rejecting the family God has given him.  The only thing that can keep him safe is joining the family and trusting his parents to take care of him.  God has given him a gift – a family.  If he can learn to trust his earthly father maybe one day he will learn to trust the heavenly Father and be adopted into God’s family.  Just like Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the United States of America he is rejecting God and His gift – “while he is sleeping.”

I have written a fourth verse to the song to illustrate this child’s situation.  I call him orphan boy since he is not joining the family God has given him.  Scroll down to the end of the song to see the fourth voice I’ve added to the song.  I ask that you would pray for this adopted child and that he would join the family God has given him.  Pray that he would overcome his fear and receive the gift that God has made available to him – so that one day he will become a child of the heavenly Father.

“While You Were Sleeping” lyrics

Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you’re lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight

Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save

Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we’re sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we’re lying in the dark
There’s a shout heard ‘cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night

America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping

MY ADDED FOURTH VERSE:

Oh little orphan boy
Looks like another silent night
Though God gave you a family
Of it you are afraid to join
Of What you are most afraid
It is what is safest for you
God gave you a gift of earthly parents
And is willing to adopt you into his very own family

Oh orphan boy, what you have missed while you were sleeping
How will you trust God
If you never trust your dad
Oh orphan boy, will you go down in history
As a boy who rejected the king
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping

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