LIKE A FLOCK

Psalm 107: 38,41 NEB says, "He blesses them and their numbers increase...and makes families increase like flocks of sheep." One or two sheep is not a flock. God wants our families to be like a flock. The family is where God loves people to be nurtured. His desire is for children to be in an environment with brothers and sisters, like a flock.

When the Word says, "God sets the solitary in families." in Psalm 68:6, it means that He puts the 'forsaken' and 'lonely' in a family, but it also means that He will bless an 'only child' by giving them family. The Hebrew word for 'solitary' is 'yachid' which means 'an only child'.

We receive the same understanding from Psalm 128:3 where God is revealing to us a picture of a family that is blessed of the Lord. As we peek through the window to get a glimpse of what this family is like, we see all the children sitting around the family table. The Living Bible says, "Look at all those children! There they sit around the dinner table as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees." It is difficult for one or two children to encompass the whole dinner table. God wants every chair around the table to be filled.

WITHOUT NUMBER

When God talks about blessing families with fruitfulness, He likens it to things that cannot be numbered. Look up these amazing Scriptures:

1.   The stars of the heavens.

Look up: Genesis 15:5; 13:6; 22:17; 26:4; Exodus 32:13; Deuteronomy 1:10; 10:22; 28:62; 1 Chronicles 27:23b; Jeremiah 33:22; Nehemiah 9:23; Hebrews 11:12.

2.   The dust of the earth.

Look up: Genesis 13:16; 16:28; Numbers 23:10; 2 Chronicles 1:9.

3    The sands of the seashore.

Look up: Genesis 22:17; 32:12; Isaiah 48:18,19; Jeremiah 33:22; Hosea 1:10; Hebrews 11:12.

4.   The grass of the fields.

Look up: Job 5:25; Ezekiel 16:7.

5.  Thousands of millions that speak of that which cannot be numbered. The blessing over

Rebekah in preparation for her marriage to Isaac was, "Be thou the mother of thousands of

millions..." Look up: Genesis 24:60.