Have you ever seen family members at odds with one another? It can be heart wrenching. The divorce rate these days is a sad testimony to the fact that many family members have been so much at odds with one another that they refuse to live together any longer. We have come to call such situations incompatibility.

One way the dictionary defines incompatibility is with the word irreconcilable. In other words, two people who are incompatible have differences and they refuse to be reconciled. But how do such deep differences develop between people who have lived together for years? Such differences can develop when a husband and a wife have different aims and goals and desires. For example, a husband and wife can begin going in different directions because of the demands of their work or their careers.

But God did not intend family members to be pulled in different directions. In the beginning, God spoke to the first husband and wife “and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over . . . every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:28). The critical words are, “And God said to them”. You see, God did not send the first husband and wife off in two different directions to do two different jobs. Quite to the contrary, God directed the first husband and wife to work together to accomplish the same task. In this way compatibility was fostered.

If incompatibility is a problem in your home, perhaps it is time for you to start listening to God’s directions for living.