All Together Now

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133:1

Unity – The God of Community. If you’re going to live out emotional theology, you better be prepared to live it out with others. God might deal with you individually when it comes to redemption, but He will gently push you toward all His other children when it comes to growth. That’s what we should expect but it’s not what we like. How much nicer it would be if God would just let me live in isolation with Him, comfortably enjoying His presence without all those painful interactions with other less than perfect followers (just like me).
Our Hebrew word yachad can mean “unity” as it is in this translation, but it more likely means “all together”. It’s position in the sentence helps define its meaning and when it comes last, it means “completely together” (see 1 Samuel 11:11 and Isaiah 27:4).

But David isn’t satisfied with even this positional emphasis. He really wants us to feel God’s thought here. So he starts with “Behold” (hinneh) and he inserts another tiny word that we don’t see in English. He attaches gam to yachad. He makes a single new word that means “indeed all together” or “certainly all together”. It’s like having an exclamation point at the beginning and at the end.

Could it be any stronger? Could God’s viewpoint on the absolute necessity of arm-in-arm walking in the Way be any clearer? David does all that he can to fix our attention on the thought. Now it’s up to you.

You have probably heard the expression, “This would be a great world if it weren’t for everyone else.” That’s not what God has in mind. Even in the Garden He said, “It’s not good for one human being to be alone.” We are designed for spiritual, physical, emotional and mental togetherness. If you think you can just snuggle up with God by yourself, you are really making a mistake. All of those others annoying people are there because that is exactly where God shows up.

Now the question for you and me is this: What am I doing to push myself into community with those who are followers in the Way? What am I doing to tear down my walls? What am I doing to dig deep with others? What am I doing to love my neighbor?