THE FAMILY IN GOD’S WORD (1)

“GOD sets the solitary in FAMILIES; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a dry land” – Psalm 68:6

Beloved, blessed New Month, as we begin to meditate on the FAMILY in GOD’S WORD: “GOD sets the solitary in FAMILIES; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a dry land” (Psa.68:6). GOD sets the solitary in Families because He is the Author and Sustainer of the Family as both a temporal and eternal Institution. He is the One “from whom the WHOLE FAMILY in HEAVEN and EARTH is named” (Eph.3:15). God created in humanity a need for Family! The Family was His original appointment; and all that there is in the Family that contributes to the happiness of humankind – all that there is of comfort in the world, that depends on the Family organisation – is linked to the Goodness of God.

This Psalm is from the King of Israel as he praised God for giving them the victory over their enemies (vv.1-2). God had made him king and established his nation as the greatest power in the world. Even as a vast group of vagabonds, wandering in the wilderness, God had given them victory over kings with seemingly much greater armies, more power, and larger numbers of chariots and horses. God showed His Power to the nations as He made Israel a nation of His own people and gave them a land that had belonged to others. God is still in control of all things – the personal things that seem to be small and inconsequential, the national, and global. This same Master of the Universe cares intimately enough to set every lonely wanderer and solitary soul in a Family!

In a universal sense, no human being determined his or her biological family. God did! In another sense, God provides comfortable dwellings to those who are alone in the world, who seem to have no companions, friends, or helpers, who are destitute or forsaken. A practical manifestation of this divine act of deliberate positioning is expressed in the previous verse: “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation” (v.5). God is the Father of all orphans and the Friend and Sustainer of the widow. In like manner, He is the Friend of the outcast, the homeless, the wandering. He provides for them a Home – a Family. In essence, God is benevolent and kind, and those who have no friends or have been forsaken, can find a Faithful Friend in God.

That God sets the solitary ones to dwell in homes is not simply a statement about where people live, but also and especially about their relationships. Nothing more clearly marks the Benevolence and the Wisdom of God than the arrangement by which people, instead of being solitary wanderers on the face of the earth, with nothing to bind them in sympathy, in love, and in interest to each other, are grouped together in families. The Family of God does not consist of only natural nuclear families, but diverse sets of people who need to belong, who need the church to be their family. In practical settings, churches need to find ways to be more inclusive and supportive of the singles – adults and youth, orphans, and widows.

In an era in which increasing number of people are feeling alienated, Believers of Christ have a unique opportunity to be channels of God’s Love and be more aware of those around us whom He wants to set or place in family. We can be the families – and the Church Family – in which God places the solitary, that they might fulfil His purposes. The results: Liberty and Prosperity – “He brings out those who are bound into prosperity” (v.6b). When homes are provided for the lonely, inestimable bondages are broken. Family brings Freedom, releasing the prisoners from the chains and horror of hurts, broken hearts, isolation, loneliness, and shallow social connections. But the rebellious – those who are turned away from God and from His Word – remain in a dry or patched land!