“A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity.” Ps. 68:5
During the 4th century, a priest named Nicolas ministered to poor families throughout what is today called Turkey. The son of rich parents this remarkable man, who was an archbishop while still in his twenties, felt a strong calling to reach out to the poor, orphaned and widowed. Through gifts and kind words he constantly looked to make the lives of children better.
The Christian author Metaphrastes records that while on a trip for a meeting, Nicolas heard of a widower and his three teenage daughters who lived in the village where he was staying. This poor family was literally starving to death and the father had actually considered selling a daughter into slavery. He reasoned that if he sold one he might at least have enough money for the dowries of the other two which would allow them to be married and escape the poverty and hunger of their daily lives.
Even though the father made arrangements to sell his oldest daughter, when it came time he could not part with even one of his children. In his hunger, fatigue, and depression, he cried out to God for help not knowing that his plight was already known to the priest. As was the custom of poor folk who had but one set of clothes they washed their socks in the evening and hung them by the fire to dry overnight. Sometime after midnight someone opened a window and silently tossed a gold coin into one of the stockings. In the morning the oldest daughter found the coin and after showing it to her father they both looked to heaven and cried out to God in thanksgiving for this great miracle. Not only would this happen for the oldest daughter but did for each daughter thereafter so that all had dowries and could be married.
This was the beginning of the story behind St. Nicolas and why children thereafter would check their stockings to see if he had left a gift for them.
What motivated Nicolas was not the desire to be a hero to man but to be a great servant of God. The same Spirit that guided him is also wanting to guide us to minister to the needs of those around us. If you see a need, do what you can to help meet it. The world doesn’t need superheroes as much as it needs super servants.
Love,
Pastor Bob
