How to Find God’s Provision and Protection

For week 3 day 4, Jen had us read Psalm 68:5-10 and establish the main idea, turning it into a title.

Title: God’s Provision & Protection

“Today let’s see what alternate versions can do for your time in the Word. Allow the Spirit to fill your mind with truth as you read the following translations of verse 6:

“God makes a home for the lonely;
He leads out the prisoners into prosperity,
Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land. (NASB)

“God set the lonely in families,
He leads forth the prisoners with singing;
but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. (NIV)

“God places the lonely in families;
He sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.
But for rebels, there is only famine and distress. (NLT)

“God places lonely people in families. He leads prisoners out of prison into productive limes, but rebellious people must live in an unproductive land. (GOD’S WORD)

“God makes homes for the homeless,
leads prisoners to freedom,
but leaves rebels to rot in hell. (MSG)”

I added two more translations, the ICB and The Voice (TV) to the ones she listed above, only I took each line by itself from each verse and highlighted the things that were the same in each one.

The overriding theme of this verse is that God will take care of those who are alone or feel lonely. While four of the versions talk about giving those who are lonely a ‘home’, I think the three versions who use the word ‘families’ is more appropriate. God will always provide the people we need in our lives. They may not be blood related, but these people will still be their family because we are all brothers and sister through Christ. We will have a kinship that is always found in our biological families. The love we need to no longer feel unloved may be given to us by our spiritual family instead.

How the different translations say God does this is interesting: makes, sets, places, gives.

‘Makes’ is used the most at three times, ‘places’ 2 times, and both ‘sets’ and ‘gives’ is used only once.

Whether it’s makes or gives us a home or sets or places us in a family, God provides for us through all things. We just have to trust and believe He will.

This part of the verse is harder for me to get (understand). In my NIV, the note for 68:3-6 reads, “…Only in God is there hope for the orphans, widows, prisoners, and all other lonely people. If you are lonely or disadvantaged, join David in praise, and discover great joy from loving and praising God.”

Maybe it’s because it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done in your life, God can and will forgive you.

All the versions either talk about the rebellious or those who rebel against God. One actually uses the phrase “those who turn again God.” I think this phase describes it best. When we turn from God we are rebelling against Him and everything He says and what He has planned for us.

Where this kind of person will live is described as parched land, a sun-scorched land, an unproductive land, in a barren land, or a dry land. One straight up says hell. However, one says “only famine and distress.” The pictures all these places conjures in my head is a place I never want to see or visit.

More than anything, I like what The Voice has to say at the very end of this verse: “without His blessings and prosperity.” I mean, think about how bad this place would be to begin with. Then to boot, God is not where in it. That’s why the MSG straight up says, “hell”, because that’s basically what it must feel like in the end.

We must always remember to never turn away from God. God is who will be the One to get us through anything. Like losing Mari. While I may have felt alone, I wasn’t. God was always there. He gave me the strength to get through as I know mine was completely deflated, gone.

It’s like I can look back and have no clue how I got through it. Yet I did. The strength others saw in me was never me to begin with. That was all 100% Him. Think about that for a second. Even in my loneliest moments I was never alone. Just like the person in the “Footprints in the Sand” poem, God carried me at my weakest. Now that’s kewl.