One of the most sublime truths about God is the Fatherhood of God. In recent weeks I have been teaching on trusting God and we have dwelt extensively on the nature of God, we have delighted in His goodness, been blessed by His faithfulness, revelled in His mercy, rejoiced in His sovereignty, been encouraged by His omniscience, reassured by His power, and for good reason.
But perhaps the most all encompassing aspect of His nature, the one that makes all the others so utterly wonderful is the fatherhood of God, the inconceivable fact that this amazing, extraordinary being holds, loves and treats me as His child. Often, meditating on God, waiting on Him, I am caught up in wonder that this divine Person would even consent to commune with me, relate to me; but more than that it gives Him pleasure.
Then you read Jesus say to the Father that He has loved us just as He loved Him Jesus, and you drop your pen, scratch your head, and think, think what really, what can you think? When revelation hits you, you lose it. You sit, you stand, you shake and shout, and it’s God, can this be, but why, but what? Whatever! Sometimes incoherence is a gift.
Have you ever heard yourself say to God, ‘what are you’, ‘what’s the deal with you’? and you are not asking a question of course, you are not asking for a theological exposition, you are not asking for explanation of the mystery of the Trinity nor are you seeking to pierce the secrets of human existence.
You are just, well, quite simply, beside yourself with wonder. And the capacity of the human mind to fathom, order, is suddenly overwhelmed, subdued by perfection, by goodness; a sight the human surely was made to behold but has ceased to see for want of contemplation.
No, there are sights in God yet to be seen, there is revelation of simple truths yet to be grasped. There is ecstasy born of insight that awaits us. Father! My Father! God, great, powerful, good, glorious, sovereign, omnipresent, all knowing; yes, all that; but more than it all, FATHER, FATHER.
HE loves beyond our capacity to understand love, He is kind, beyond our ability to describe kindness, He stretches out His hand constantly to wayward children who fret, who sulk, who sin, He loves. FATHER.
He offers security, He offers safety, He offers peace, He offers total acceptance, unconditional affection. He offers life. He forgives, He heals, He helps, not only because He is able, not only because He is good, but because He is Father. Protector, mentor, guide, teacher, instructor, counsellor.
His arms are wide enough to hold you, His heart tender enough to feel you, His ways simple enough to be understood, His words clear enough to be grasped even by the simple, FATHER. The great revelation Jesus brought us was that of God as Father. For that they wanted to kill Him, but for that we today worship Him.
And we need not fear to lose Him, because we did not make Him thus. He is Father because He has chosen to be, not because we deserve for Him to be. He is Father because He birthed us in His Son, not because we brought ourselves to Him. He is Father.
Shalom