Psalm 67:6
building a temple
Who is the father of orphans, and the judge of widows. God in his holy place: (Psalm 67:6 DR)
In the Gospel of John our Lord promised:
In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33 DR)
In our sentimentality we like the second half of the verse, and would generally prefer that it exist without the first. However, the promise of overcoming the world only makes sense if there is actually trouble and distress; otherwise it would be a victory without an adversary.
The reality of this world, as our Lord makes plain, is that it is full of distress, and we will have our share of it. This vale of tears has enough pains in and of itself, but these are often compounded by the wicked when they set themselves against the righteous. The Psalmist invokes this dilemma often and has such an understanding in the background of this Psalm.
The righteous should be confident, but not because they will be spared from all distress. Rather, they should rejoice that God’s justice will be manifest, whether in this world or the next. Such justice has special regard—as the Psalmist now notes—for those who are downtrodden, specifically the orphans and widows. In the Psalmist’s time either state could be tantamount to a death sentence, or generally at least ensured a difficult existence full of trial and suffering. The wicked were often wont to prey upon such persons who had no other recourse to defend themselves.
For such persons God has a special relationship, which entails that those who are righteous or desire righteousness must needs have a similar regard for them (cf. James 1:27). They are, to some extent, the holy place of God, which tracks with our Savior’s words:
Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me. (Matthew 25:40 DR)
On the spiritual level the orphans and widows are the righteous who discover there is no place for them in this world; they are fatherless in that this is not their fatherland and widowed in that the allurements of the world mean nothing to them. Their hearts are fixed on the Lord alone; He is their delight:
For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth? For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever. (Psalm 72:25-26 DR)
For such persons the trials of this life are often many; they may become orphaned widowed in spirit by their family rejecting them on account of righteousness:
Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:34-37 DR)
But just as God has regard for the widows and orphans, so in those beleaguered by such circumstances God makes His home, His holy place, the great cause of their confidence:
For out of those orphans and widows, that is, persons destitute of partnership in this world's hope, the Lord for Himself does build a Temple: whereof in continuation he says, “The Lord is in His holy place.”(St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 67, 5.)
This animation was very simple. I found the figures from some medieval miniatures and cut them out in Photoshop and then brought them into After Effects. I found a nice streak-ish image and used Stretch on it to make the image flow downwards form the dove. I then added in some looping boxes and matted some textures to them. I finally added in some text and color correction and textures and called it done.
Enjoy.
Who is the father of orphans, and the judge of widows. God in his holy place:
(Psalm 67:6 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: