1 Timothy 5:5

The Apostle then gives us the beautiful marks of one who is "truly a widow". She is desolate, with no human resources. Her confidence is in God — she "has set her hope on God". And she depends on God, for she "continues in supplications and prayers night and day."

Here we have individual perseverance "in supplications and prayers." Why is it the widow's part to continue in them "night and day"? Because she is alone and stripped of every resource. She can only turn to God, and in this way learn dependence.

In the days of her prosperity this Christian woman gave herself to the good works listed in verse 10. She would have recognized that it was really God Himself caring for the afflicted through her hands. He was the Giver; she was only the channel. Now her position is reversed. But she knows well that she must not look to the channels, but to the mighty Source of all. So her trust is in God, and she waits on Him in prayer. She too is marked by that trust in the living God which is such a large part of practical godliness.

He is high over all — great, mighty and awesome. But He has a heart for the widow and the fatherless. They are helpless, stripped of every earthly and natural support: the poor grieving, broken-hearted widow and the orphan left alone. God thinks of such people and cares for them in a very special way; they have a claim upon His loving heart and mighty hand. "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation." "She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day." "Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in me."

Three characteristics are given of the woman who is "truly a widow." She is "left all alone." She "has set her hope on God." She "continues in supplications and prayers night and day." … The widow of Nain met our blessed Lord, the Prince of Life, as her son — "the only son of his mother" — was being carried out for burial. She was the desolate one. (Luke 7.) The poor widow who put two small coins into the treasury, who "out of her poverty put in all she had to live on," was one who trusted in God. (Luke 21.) And in Anna we find the last characteristic. It is said of her that "she was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day."

Remember that her desolation, which is her essential feature, is only on the side of earth. In fact it is perfectly true that her very bereaved condition has been the means of her choicest blessing, in the dealings of the God of all comfort. … The same characteristics are seen in our blessed Lord Himself. He was alone. He had nowhere to lay His head, and no one on earth shared fellowship with Him. He trusted in God, and He was always occupied in prayer. So every believer should be marked in the same way, and will be, in proportion as he is like his Lord.