Father

“See what kind of love the Father has given us.” (I John 3:1)

I was blessed with a loving father.  He was my hero when I was a little girl.  His career was the United States Navy, and I loved sitting at his feet and listening to his World War II war stories.  Some of you reading this can relate to having a loving father.  But for some of you, a loving father is foreign.  

The bible tells us the story of a boy who was sent away by his father at an early age. His name was Ishmael, the son of Abraham.  But not the promised son.  Only Isaac was the promised son and seed of Abraham.  Through the ages since the time of Abraham, the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac have been locked in a war of animosity.  This is most obvious to all of us in the world we now live in.

Many would tell you that Ishmael’s descendants, the Arabs, hate Israel because of their jealousy of Isaac’s descendants.  But I would like to present another possibility to the middle east war.  From the children of Ishmael came Islam and the Koran.  In the Koran, there are ninety-nine names for Allah, but not one of them is in the context of being father.  Islam tends to see God as distant, not as loving as a father should be.  Ishmael felt cut off from his father Abraham, and I believe that it has affected the history of the Middle East ever since – as well as the religion of Islam.

Our Christian bible speaks in many verses of God as a loving Father.  Many believers know that as doctrine but not as a reality in their lives.  Thus, they spend life trying to prove their worthiness, as if God was only a judge to them.  Or they live with great anxiety as if they have no father who will protect and provide for them.  But the bible is very clear to tell us that God loves us as a loving father who pours his goodness out on his adoring child. 

Perhaps some of you reading this also had a father who did not show much love to you as a child or was absent in your life.  This dysfunctional relationship has affected your ability to trust God, leaving you struggling with anxiety and fear.  I want to encourage you to go to God’s word and study verses that speak about God’s love for us as a Father.  I found fifty-four of them.  That tells me that the word of God is driving home a very comforting point for each of us.  No matter if our earthly father was the best or the worse, we have a heavenly Father who loves us more than we could ever imagine.  Let’s ask him to shower that love on us.

                                                    Darlene