Out of the hundreds of different perspectives we may have, there's one we share: Dad is powerful. There's no honest disagreement about it. All children want to know their father, what he likes, loves, hates, what makes him laugh, . . . Whether we like him, whether or not he's a good person, or even if he's never around, we all pause with thoughts of Dad. In this small way, he's exalted.
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| My dad & daughter, photo by me |
We may think, "Nope, I don't like my dad" or "My dad has not been a real dad." While it's true that this man may not deserve a second of our thoughts, something within us stirs at the thought of him. Maybe an uncomfortable feeling stirs, maybe grief, bitterness, or anger. Maybe even apathy. The emotion, whatever it may be, is so palpable and unavoidable. How we respond to our thoughts-- and we do --is proof of how powerful our father is.
We hunger for him to love us, and when he does, when he is that good father, we have been given a security, a refuge even, that no one else can give us. As a result, we want to know him - what he likes, what he hates, what makes him laugh. We're drawn to spend time with him.
All children of a good dad love him, they want to please him, and they want to know him.
. . . And the road forks - the children of good dads go one way as the children of crappy dads go the other. Nevertheless, we still all know, either with a smile or with tears, Dad is powerful.
The same is true for our Heavenly Dad. God our Father is powerful. More than a perspective, this attribute of God is the truth. For those of us who do not fully know that God is powerful, this truth is still something we do wonder about. We deeply want to know. The desire to know God is something we all have as well. In the Bible, time and time again, over the 3,000 or more year span, people express their desires to know God:
Psalm 119:10 states: "With my whole heart I seek you, let me not wander from your commandments." (ESV)
In Philippians 3:8, Paul states: "I count everything as a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."
In Job 23:3, Job, in great despair, tells his friends, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, /That I may come to His seat!" (NKJV)
In Jeremiah 9:23-24, God says, "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast this, that he understands and knows Me, . . ."
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| Photo by me |
Several more verses show this same desire to know God. I wonder if in His holiness, in His magnitude, in His perfect omniscience, we resort to discouragement in connecting with a God so grand. Do we just stay in our own lane thinking we're not cut out for having a Father-child relationship with an eternal Creator?
Absolutely, we do. We fall short. We're far from perfect, far from holy, and we have a magnitude only in the sense of baggage. . . not lovable material.
But we need a Dad. A good One.
Jesus stretches out His hand for ours: "I am the Way, the Truth, the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
Then, we get to know God. He is the Father we will always have. Our refuge. Our security. Our Dad.
Thanks for reading! The truth about God our Father can help open eyes to one's need for a Savior. Please share.