Daily Manna · Day 174 · June 23
Set in Families
“God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.”
The room is full, there is a table with drinks on it, and you are extremely good at the handshake and the short answer. Forty minutes in you check the time. This is the loneliest hour of your week and nobody here knows that.
Friend,
Look at who is doing the verbs. God setteth the solitary in families. He bringeth out those which are bound with chains. Belonging in this psalm is arranged by God, not earned by becoming easier to like. And the psalm is a marching song; it opens Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, so setting the solitary into households is something God does while advancing, not a consolation handed to people who missed the main event. The word behind solitary means the only one, the alone, and it is the same word used of an only child.
There is a line here that most people step over, and I am not going to step over it for you: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. Family is given. It is also possible to refuse the giving and stay parched, and some of the loneliest people I have known chose the dry land quietly, because it carried less risk than a table did.
So take the next invitation, even the awkward one, even if you leave early. If none is coming, send one yourself this week to one person before you talk yourself out of it.
And a blessing over you as you go. May God, who sets the solitary in families, set you in one. May he walk you out of whatever you are chained to. And may there be a chair with your name on it in a room you have not yet walked into.
Yours.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 174 is My Redeemer Liveth (Job 19:25).