Psalm 68:5-6 ~
"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.
God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity..."
As you can imagine this verse is a tremendously important verse here in our home, it is a comfort and a promise that we repeatedly remind God of. It is highlighted and underlined with stars next to it in my Bible. I read it often, pray it even more often, sometimes silently in my heart, sometimes quietly under my breathe as I do laundry or dishes. It is on a sticky note on my bathroom mirror and I have read and reread it in numerous different translations. I continually remind God that He has promised us He will do what we can not ~ that He will be everything to countless orphans that we have met, that He will be the protector of the single mother's home and children, that He goes about His business of setting the lonely in families and that He sets the captives free and brings them into abundance and prosperity. He is the Doer of the things that need to be done and so I pester Him with this verse, reminding Him, begging Him, pleading with Him to bring relief to the orphans, widows, the solitary and the bound.
But, as many times as I have prayed this I have had two nagging questions that creep up. The first is with the actual wording of the Scripture and the second is with my reality or the way that I preceive my reality. Recently my personal tutor, the Holy Spirit, who is ever patient and long-suffering brought an answer to both of my questions. And in true God fashion He showed me that the answer to one dispels the confusion on the other.
The textual issue was with the phrase "in His holy habitation," it felt odd to me as I read it, almost out of place. However, I know that Scripture is infalliable and the phrase was perfectly placed and I was the one out of place. The reality issue continually dogged me because I found myself thinking about all those children who never find a family, the lonely who never join a home, the widow who is still scared and her needs appear to be unmet and the bound that stay bound. His Word says that He is the Father, the Protector, and the One Who sets us in families and the One who brings us into prosperity; I knew what His Word said and I did want to doubt but I was seeing a different reality.
One morning as I repeated the verses, I paused at the phrase "in His holy habitation" and He explained it ~ "it is a picture of My holy habitation, it is a picture of what I am in my holy habitation, it is not what I do but Who I am. In my holy habitation there are no fatherless because they are with the Father and there is no widow (or single mother) because she is with her protector, no one is lonely because they are with their Creator and there can be no one bound when they are in the presence of Freedom. It is a promise to claim for today and it is a picture of your tomorrow. It is not out of place and it IS reality, it is My reality." I was silent, with a stupid little grin on my face. It was wonderful to rest in His promise and His picture.
Hebrews 11:1 ~
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
We believe by faith in that which we can not see, yet. But, as we take God at His word and realize Who He is in His holy habitation, then His promise and His picture becomes our reality here on earth even before we see it eternally in heaven. And as His reality becomes our reality, as Who He is becomes who we are then we can share this reality with the hurting world around us.
Psalm 68:5-6 is a picture of our tomorrow, yet we are not left just to suffer here on earth, we are given the incredible ability through the Spirit of God to paint this picture of Him in His holy habitation here in our daily, hourly lives.
He has called us to believe His promise and to live out His picture here, right where He has placed us.
"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.
God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity..."
But, as many times as I have prayed this I have had two nagging questions that creep up. The first is with the actual wording of the Scripture and the second is with my reality or the way that I preceive my reality. Recently my personal tutor, the Holy Spirit, who is ever patient and long-suffering brought an answer to both of my questions. And in true God fashion He showed me that the answer to one dispels the confusion on the other.
The textual issue was with the phrase "in His holy habitation," it felt odd to me as I read it, almost out of place. However, I know that Scripture is infalliable and the phrase was perfectly placed and I was the one out of place. The reality issue continually dogged me because I found myself thinking about all those children who never find a family, the lonely who never join a home, the widow who is still scared and her needs appear to be unmet and the bound that stay bound. His Word says that He is the Father, the Protector, and the One Who sets us in families and the One who brings us into prosperity; I knew what His Word said and I did want to doubt but I was seeing a different reality.
One morning as I repeated the verses, I paused at the phrase "in His holy habitation" and He explained it ~ "it is a picture of My holy habitation, it is a picture of what I am in my holy habitation, it is not what I do but Who I am. In my holy habitation there are no fatherless because they are with the Father and there is no widow (or single mother) because she is with her protector, no one is lonely because they are with their Creator and there can be no one bound when they are in the presence of Freedom. It is a promise to claim for today and it is a picture of your tomorrow. It is not out of place and it IS reality, it is My reality." I was silent, with a stupid little grin on my face. It was wonderful to rest in His promise and His picture.
Hebrews 11:1 ~
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
We believe by faith in that which we can not see, yet. But, as we take God at His word and realize Who He is in His holy habitation, then His promise and His picture becomes our reality here on earth even before we see it eternally in heaven. And as His reality becomes our reality, as Who He is becomes who we are then we can share this reality with the hurting world around us.
Psalm 68:5-6 is a picture of our tomorrow, yet we are not left just to suffer here on earth, we are given the incredible ability through the Spirit of God to paint this picture of Him in His holy habitation here in our daily, hourly lives.
He has called us to believe His promise and to live out His picture here, right where He has placed us.
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