A transformational spiritual exercise to help you sense that God is your gracious Father
I want to share a helpful devotional practice I have been using in recent months. It has been spiritually rich for me, and it transforms my understanding of God and my feelings about him.
Normally I use this devotional practice first thing in the morning. I commonly wake up in the morning with the sense that I am unworthy, and that God does not feel good about me, probably stemming from the notion that I must earn my way with him and deserve his love. A few months ago I began intentionally focusing at these times on God as my gracious Father, and I meditate one by one on the qualities that constitute his gracious fatherhood.
Depending on how much time I have, I might do this for 10 minutes, or for an hour. But there is a sweetness to it always, and by the end of this meditation the negative feelings are gone.
Example
Here is what I typically say:
Gracious Father, your favor toward me is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your benevolence [goodwill] toward me is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your beneficence [good works] in my life is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your generosity toward me is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your love for me is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your kindness toward me is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your gentleness with me is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your goodness toward me is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your listening to my prayers and answering them is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your forgiveness toward me is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your mercy toward me is my treasure and delight.
Gracious Father, your adoption of me as your son is my treasure and delight.
Meditation
With each line I pause and meditate on that reality, letting the words sink in and do their work, giving the Holy Spirit room to reveal the truth of it. He does that time and again. The exercise is repetitive but has never been rote.
At the heart of what it means to know God is to know him as gracious Father. This devotional practice has transformed not just my mornings, but my experiential knowledge of God.
You have a rightful claim to your heavenly Father’s kingdom and possessions, and God will ensure you receive what is rightfully yours.
Imagine how different your outlook on life would be if you
were a 15-year-old son or daughter of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. At one point in
2019 he was the richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of $170
billion. If you were one of his four offspring, you would be an heir to some or
all of that money. Suppose his will stipulated that at age 25 you would receive
10 percent of the inheritance; that’s $17 billion. As a teenager, your thoughts
about the future, about your plans and hopes and dreams, your sense of
security—all would be different than the average person. No matter what
problems or challenges you faced from now until turning 25, you would remember and
console yourself with the great change that awaited you.
This is the attitude every Christian can have. We are God’s sons
and daughters and thus his heirs. He owns everything and promises to give it to
his children. The earth and much more we cannot yet comprehend is our
inheritance.
Colossians
1:12 says Christians should be “giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified
you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light”
(NIV). Notice the word “qualified.” One dictionary defines an heir as “one who
is entitled to inherit property.” Notice the word “entitled.” This means
the heir has a legal right to something. The children of the heavenly Father
have a right to all he owns.
Your heavenly inheritance
Consider a few things Scripture teaches about your
inheritance.
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be
enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the
riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (Ephesians 1:18 NIV).
–We need light to be given to our spiritual eyes
to grasp how great our hope in this inheritance can be, how glorious
this inheritance is. Its riches are infinitely greater than anything the
children of Jeff Bezos will receive. The Bezos children should envy you rather
than your envying them.
“All
things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or
death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and
Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21–23).
–Being an
heir of God literally means everything is yours, shared with all the rest of
God’s children, because everything belongs to your Father. This is your Father’s
world, and he delights to give it all to you. You will inherit the whole world.
–Even
something negative like death is yours in the sense that Christ has transformed
the death of a Christian into something he uses to bring us good. Through death
we go from mortality to immortality, from perishable to imperishable, from
weakness to strength. We die in union with Christ and his death, unlike those
who do not follow Christ, who die in their sins in union with the devil.
“Listen,
my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be
rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love
him?” (James 2:5 ESV)
–We will
inherit the kingdom of God, our Father’s glorious new creation of
righteousness, peace, and joy that is coming someday upon the earth. It is our
right as a child of the heavenly Father.
“He
saved us…so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according
to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5–7 ESV).
–We will
inherit eternal life. In Christ this is your right.
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and
fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also
be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16–17 ESV).
–Jesus is the heir of the Father, and we are
fellow heirs with Jesus. We share in the inheritance of Jesus! What is his is
ours!
–Being an heir of God requires perseverance and a
willingness to suffer persecution as Jesus did in this life. You can lose your
inheritance by losing your faith and falling back in love with the fallen
world. Esau is the prototype of this folly:
“See
that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal
sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son” (Hebrews 12:16 NIV).
But for faithful believers in Christ who endure to
the end, the story is altogether different:
“You
know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward”
(Colossians 3:24 NIV).
–Our
inheritance is our reward for choosing the true God over false gods.
“By
faith he [Abraham] went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land,
living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise”
(Hebrews 11:9 ESV).
–God
promised Abraham amazing things, including that he would be singularly blessed,
have a great name, be a blessing to the world, and receive the promised land
(Genesis 12:1–3; 15:7). Genesis shows that these promises were Abraham’s
possession, and therefore they became the inheritance, the heritage, of his son
Isaac, and then of his grandson Jacob. They inherited not only property from
Abraham but also promises, the promises God gave Abraham. But Abraham has many more
heirs, as the following verse reveals:
“If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:29 ESV)
–That’s
right, the glorious truth is that through faith in Jesus Christ we also become
the heirs of Abraham and therefore we inherit many of his promises. We are
entitled to share in what God promised Abraham.
–Our
response to all these glorious promises should be praise and confidence:
“Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy,
he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish,
spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3–4 NIV).
The Father’s heart
In the
Parable of the Prodigal Son, the wonderful, loving father told his oldest son
something that reflects the heart of our heavenly Father toward us: “He said to
him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours” (Luke 15:31).
Those words make God’s heart personal and direct to you. Memorize and meditate
on them until you believe them with all your heart, and no matter what life
throws at you, you can go through every day with firm hope in the inheritance
that awaits you.
Ah, Jeff
Bezos, you are but a pauper compared to my heavenly Father, and unless your
children are followers of Jesus Christ, they too are paupers compared to me.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: The original lie that Satan spoke to Eve in
the Garden called into question the goodness of God (see Genesis 3:1, 5), and
fallen humans have been swallowing that lie ever since. We may think the Father
is holding back his best from us.
God’s way: The Father’s loving generosity is without
limit. All he has is ours.
Life principle: We should set all our hope in the gracious inheritance we will receive when Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven. We should sacrifice anything that would compromise it.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘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 in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
What does it mean that God our heavenly Father protects us, since he also allows the evils that occur in our world?
When our sons were young, we went several times for family
outings to Starved Rock State Park in Central Illinois. It’s a beautiful, rocky
area with many cliffs and gorges. It’s also a dangerous area if you don’t
follow the rules. Every year, people fall and die. So, it’s not only a fun
place for a family trip but also a nervous place for parents. You want boys to
explore and be adventurous, and you don’t want to hold their hand or warn them
continually against doing this or that, but the reality is you want to protect
them from the real possibility of harm and death.
As a loving Father, our God in heaven has a similar desire to protect his children. King David took comfort from knowing that God resembled a good shepherd who had a rod and staff always ready at his side to fight off hungry wolves and bears (Psalm 23:4). God promises, “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name” (Psalm 91:14, ESV). “The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:3, NIV).
Our favorite Bible stories often are about God’s ability to
protect his people. Daniel in the lion’s den. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
in the fiery furnace. The apostle Peter delivered from a dungeon by an angel.
God is constantly protecting us from a thousand potential
harms of which we are not aware. If he withdrew his protection, we would succumb
to untold numbers of germs, demons, and accidents. Never does a moment pass that
God has not protected you from harm.
Anomalies
However, both the Bible and human experience attest that
protection is not the whole story. There are exceptions to the rule. Evil
things happen even to God’s people. Job lost everything for a time. Joseph was
sold into slavery and taken to Egypt. Cain murdered Abel. John the Baptist was
beheaded. The apostle Paul was beaten, stoned, and jailed many times. Stephen
was stoned to death. Harmful things have happened to you and those you love.
What makes that especially difficult for believers in the God of the Bible is, we understand that he is all-powerful and all-knowing. He is not in a dualistic battle with evil he cannot contain. Satan and his demons are not all-powerful. They were created by God and have continuing existence only by God’s will. Our Father in heaven must ultimately allow what happens because he foreknows all and enables everything to exist. He is sovereign, never doing evil, but allowing it.
So, God is our Father in the sense that he wants to protect his
children from harm but also that he allows them to go through hard, painful
things so that they will grow mature, strong, and capable. He occasionally
allows harm for the sake of a higher good (Romans 8:28). It’s not ordinary.
It’s temporary. But it’s no accident or oversight, for the arm of the Almighty
is not too short to protect us.
For example, when my sons came to the age when they would
begin middle school and high school, I hated the thought of it. I knew how
cruel kids can be to each other. But I also knew my sons had to keep growing
and face the world as it is. Although I wanted to shelter them completely from
harm, I knew it would be better for them to grow stronger and wiser through the
challenges ahead of them.
Can we expect to be protected?
So, where does that leave us in our desire for God’s protection?
1. We should pray for our Father’s protection and expect it.
Our loving heavenly Father delights in protecting us, and as
a result his protection is normal and continuous for us in countless unseen
ways. So we should never—never—fear.
Psalm 91 describes the normal experience and expectation of
God’s people:
“1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the LORD, ‘My
refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’
3 For he
will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. 4
He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor
the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in
darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand
at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only
look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because
you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge— 10
no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways. 12 On their hands they will bear you
up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the
young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. 14 ‘Because
he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him,
because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.’” (Psalm 91:1–16)
2. In those exceptional times when God chooses for us the alternative good that
will come through suffering, we should trust him and still pray and believe for
deliverance.
Paul wrote: “We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again” (2 Corinthians 1:9–10).
3. If we believe and trust him, our Father always delivers us from evil,
either now or in heaven.
When Paul was in prison, he wrote:
“The Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:17–18).
4. If we believe and trust him, our Father always gives us the strength,
courage, and comfort to overcome pain and hardship.
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4)
5. If we believe and trust him, God always protects us from the ultimate
evil, which is harm coming to one’s soul.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger,
or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day
long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we
are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither
death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be
able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35–39
ESV).
Our way: We fear the many evils this world can bring.
God’s way: He protects us from all evil except what brings our highest good and his greatest glory and gives us grace to overcome.
Life principle: Never fear. Always trust God’s perfect wisdom in ordering your life.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘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 in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
We should pray for deliverance from suffering of any kind, and we should believe and expect that God will deliver us immediately. But until that deliverance comes, we should regard suffering as discipline and respond accordingly.
My wife works for the Chicago Public School system as a
substitute teacher. That means she is assigned to schools all around the city,
in all kinds of neighborhoods, in grades from preschool to 8th. When she comes
home at the end of the day, sometimes she tells stories of pleasant classrooms
with delightful children. At other times, she returns home like a shell-shocked,
mustard-gassed soldier from a losing battle.
In the battleground classrooms, she experiences the bitter
fruits of children who have not been properly disciplined first at home and
then again at school. If children come from broken families lacking wise
discipline, even the best schools have a major challenge on their hands. But
that situation is often compounded by some school administrations that do not
back up teachers and—believe it or not—even prohibit teachers from handing out
consequences. The result is children who have no respect for teachers and a
classroom where little productive education happens even for the good kids.
If anyone understands firsthand what a good and loving thing it is to discipline children, it is my wife.
Why suffering?
The Bible says that God in love, like a good Father, disciplines us. He allows pain into our lives, not because he is malevolent but because he is good and knows what will benefit us most long-term. He follows his own advice to human fathers:
“Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves
him is diligent to discipline him” (Proverbs 13:24 ESV).
Discipline is loving even though it does not feel
like love.
Principles from Hebrews 12:5–11
We find the fullest description of this vital
principle in Hebrews 12:5–11. Much could be said on this passage, but here I
will simply quote each verse and follow with succinct principles.
“Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as
sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary
when reproved by him’” (Hebrews 12:5).
–Don’t regard discipline lightly;
that is, don’t ignore it, don’t fail to examine your soul for sin, don’t regard
suffering as something other than discipline—such as “bad luck” or “one of
those things”—and as a result fail to repent of any known sin.
–Don’t let discipline—that is,
painful circumstances in your life—make you weary to the point you give up and
stop believing God’s promises.
“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises
every son whom he receives”(Hebrews 12:6).
–Discipline feels like God is
against you, as though he rejects you, but it actually is proof of his love and
that he receives you.
–Discipline can be extremely
painful. The Greek word mastigoō,
translated “chastises” in verse 6, is the word for the scourging Jesus
underwent before the cross (the King James, NKJV, and NASB use the word
“scourges”; it literally meant whipping). So, “chastises” is rigorous, painful
discipline.
“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating
you as sons. For what son isthere whom his father does not discipline?”
(Hebrews 12:7)
–For discipline to fulfill its
purpose, you must endure it and correct whatever needs correcting. If you give
up by no longer trusting God and his words, if you fail to examine your soul
and repent of sin, then the discipline will be wasted pain that does not
fulfill its purpose.
–The NIV translates the first
sentence in this verse, “Endure hardship as discipline.” Certainly we should
pray for deliverance from suffering of any kind, and we should believe and
expect that God will deliver us immediately. But until that deliverance comes,
we should regard suffering as discipline and respond accordingly.
“If you are left without discipline, in which all have
participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we
have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not
much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?” (Hebrews 12:8–9).
–We must renew an attitude of
subjection to our Father.
–If we do, the discipline will
bring us life.
–Discipline accomplishes its work
in the dimension of the human spirit. God is the Father, the Creator, of our
human spirit, and therefore he knows what brings it good.
“For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed
best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his
holiness” (Hebrews 12:10).
–The purpose of discipline is our
good, as Romans 8:28 says, “In all things God works for the good of those who
love him.”
–When we respond correctly to
discipline, it brings holiness. Holiness is good.
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than
pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who
have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).
–Discipline is painful, unpleasant.
–Discipline trains us.
–Discipline yields peace.
–Discipline yields righteousness.
Our way and God’s way
Our
way: We may regard pain as bad luck, as something God did not deliberately
allow, or as something that simply overflows into one’s life because we live in
a fallen world.
God’s way: Love
seeks another person’s good even if it requires temporarily bringing them pain.
Our heavenly Father knows that temporary pain saves us from eternal
pain, that some pain saves us from far greater pain, that much good can come
from some bad. In love he disciplines with long-term wisdom.
Life principle: When we suffer, we need to submit ourselves completely to God and his purposes and repent of any known sin.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘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 in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
When your heavenly Father infused his identity into your human nature, it was an act of love.
I have four sons, and as a father who loves his sons mightily, I want them to have things in common with me. I gave my last name to all of them, my first name to one of the them, and my middle name to another. In each of them over the years, I have seen in different ways reflections of myself, and at those moments I have been pleased. For example, I competed in gymnastics, and each of my sons competed in gymnastics, and I enjoyed that they did. It is loving to want to have things in common.
It is also a loving thing to want to give gifts to another
person. Giving yourself is the highest expression of loving. This loving,
self-giving spirit explains the desire of parents to have children in their own
image. Fathers and mothers want to give their very selves to their children in
a unity greater than any other: the unity of identity. Parents want to give
their name to their children. They want to give their strengths to their
children, strengths like beautiful eyes, strong stature, intelligence. They
want to look at their children and see something of their best selves.
God gives us this desire because this is his desire. This
desire to pass on one’s identity, to have an enduring name, to have a lasting
posterity in one’s children and children’s children, is also the result of a
healthy, righteous self-respect. God has perfect self-respect. In love, he
wants to pass his glory on to us. He wants to see his glory in us. This is love
for others mixed with proper self-respect.
God’s image
Scripture reveals in many places God’s loving
desire to share his identity with us:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and
over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and
over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his
own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”
(Genesis 1:26–27 ESV).
“We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory
of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory
to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
“Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).
“Put on the new self, created after the likeness
of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).
You “have put on the new self, which is being
renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:10).
“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly
Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
“You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
“Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood
the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written
on their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1).
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen humans don’t want to resemble their
Father. They want to leave home and be their own person.
God’s way: He delights to see himself in us. When he
infused his identity into human nature, it was an act of love.
Life principle: One of the priceless gifts God has lovingly given you is his identity. You bear the image of God in your human nature. Cherish and respect that gift. More than anything else that you are or that you accomplish, the image of God stamped on your nature gives you value and significance. It ensures God’s love for you.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘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 in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
Knowing that God delights in you transforms life from mere duty to endless joy.
Our son took his family to Disney World this week and has texted photos of his girls standing with Mickey Mouse, Goofy and others. The looks of delight on the girls’ faces are priceless. Parents and grandparents live to bring delight to their children.
What do you delight in? Roller coaster rides? Work? A hobby?
Reading a particular genre of books? One stocker I visit with at the grocery
store delights so much in superhero movies and comic books by Marvel and DC
that he attends an annual convention they sponsor, and it’s not cheap. Others
that I have visited with in recent weeks have delighted in the NBA playoffs,
talking enthusiastically about who is playing well and who they predict will
win each series.
The human soul yearns for delight. We hunt for it. We
sacrifice time and money for it because our souls long for more than work and
tedium, duty and obligation. God hardwired us for delight.
Delight is defined
simply as the experience of great pleasure, joy, or satisfaction.
God’s delight
God himself takes
delight. When he creates all things in Genesis 1, his delight is evident as he
creates every material and living thing with dazzling variety and then at the
end of the day pronounces them good. Proverbs 8 personifies God’s wisdom in
creation and says, “I [wisdom] was beside him, like a master workman, and I was
daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his
inhabited world and delighting in the children of man” (Proverbs 8:30–31,
ESV). I believe these verses also describe Jesus in his role in creation, for
through him all things were created.
So God is not an austere, stoic, grim figure. He is a joyful being who delights in the love between the members of the Trinity, delights in his works in creation, and delights in his children.
God the Father delights in the Son
In particular, God the Father delights in his unique Son.
When John the Baptist baptized Jesus, “behold, a voice
from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased’” (Matthew 3:17).
Isaiah prophesied these words about the Father’s
feelings toward his special servant, who turns out to be his Son: “Behold my
servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put
my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations” (Isaiah 42:1).
The Father’s soul delights in Jesus.
At the transfiguration of Jesus, “behold, a bright
cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my
beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him’” (Matthew
17:5 ESV).
God delights in us as he delights in Jesus
It’s easy to see why God the Father delights in his
wonderful Son. Jesus is perfect, glorious, and righteous in every way. What’s
hard to comprehend is that the Father also delights in us, marred by sin,
broken, failing him time and again. Nevertheless Jesus said in one prayer to
the Father, “You sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:23).
In this verse, note the words “even as.” Jesus said the
Father loved the followers of Jesus even as he loved Jesus. How can that
be? How could the Father love fallen humans even as he loves Jesus? Only
through Jesus. The followers of Jesus are in Jesus, and therefore we are
justified and sanctified in Jesus, and therefore the Father can delight in us
even as he delights in Jesus.
Here is how God feels about his gathered people in Zion: “He
will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but
will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17, NIV).
Not only does God delight in his people, he has far greater capacities of delight than we do. His delight in Jesus is infinitely greater than a child’s delights at Disney World. His joy, satisfaction, and pleasure in his unique Son is boundless, greater than our vast universe. And as impossible as it is to imagine, his delight is equally boundless in you. You are the son or daughter in whom your heavenly Father delights.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: We
may regard God only as an austere, demanding ruler and judge, and life only as
duty and work.
God’s way: At the center of creation is a joyful Father
who delights in his children. God
delights in you as a good father delights in his sons and daughters.
Life principle: Walking with God is not only about obedience and responsibility, but also about delight, mutual delight. When you delight in your Father’s delight in you, your walk with him is transformed from mere obligation to pleasure.
We may misinterpret unwelcome situations as God’s indifference, or his silence as apathy.
Imagine growing up with an indifferent father who really
didn’t care what happened to you (that may have been the case with you, and if
so, this post will be good news indeed). Imagine that he was a “holic”: a workaholic
or alcoholic or golfaholic or whateveraholic. What mattered to him was money or
fun or ambition or friends, but his kids were an unwelcome responsibility, a
burden, a distraction. When you wanted to talk, he didn’t have time. When you
needed help, he wasn’t there. When you wanted to play with him, he was too
tired.
Your Father in heaven isn’t like that! He cares about you. Everything
about you matters to him. He is not forced into dividing his attention between
you and his work. He cares about you in the way you always wished your earthly
father could and would.
In non-agrarian societies, even the most caring fathers must
navigate a continual tension between doing what they must to make a living for
their family and actually spending time engaged with their family. But your
heavenly Father has no such limitation.
Because your heavenly Father cares, he is sympathetic and
compassionate. Because you infinitely matter to him, he has all the time you
will ever need with him. When you talk to him, he looks you in the eyes and
listens to every word you say. He is never too busy for you, never distracted.
When you need help, he gives it.
Your Father cares more than any human could
All that good news is found in 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you” (RSV).
David understood how much he mattered to God, and what he
writes in Psalm 139 about the God who cares is as true for you as it was for
him:
“O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I
sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out
my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a
word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in,
behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or
where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If
I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover
me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the
night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed
my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it
very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O
God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the
sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” (Psalm 139:1–18 ESV)
Active concern
The truth of this Psalm can revolutionize your relationship with
your heavenly Father. He cares about you like this, at all times, in things
large and small, in every way. He is focused on you and thinking about you with
love.
This is true even when your prayers go unanswered. Even when
you are sick, even when you are afraid and worried, even when circumstances
turn for the worst, even when you taste bitter disappointment. He cares about
you.
Because your heavenly Father cares, he is not passive. When the time is right, he expresses his deep concern. David imagined God’s active concern like this in Psalm 18:
“In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried
for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his
ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains
trembled and quaked, because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and
devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. He bowed
the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a
cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his
covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water. Out of the
brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. The
LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire. And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he
flashed forth lightnings and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were
seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from
those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.” (Psalm 18:6–17 ESV)
This is the picture of a Father who cares! He is not passive
about you! David wrote this even though he went through a period of years when
he lived as a fugitive running for his life from King Saul. He knew what it was
like not to have his prayers answered right away, not to have life going the
way he wanted. Nevertheless he knew that through it all God cared about him.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: We may misinterpret
unwelcome situations as God’s indifference, or his silence as apathy.
God’s way: Everything
that matters to you matters to your heavenly Father, and much, much more.
Life principle: Knowing that God cares enables you to trust and draw near to him in times of need and pain.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘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 in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
Answered prayer is central to how your heavenly Father wants you to experience his love.
How does God feel about our petitions?
My oldest sons were boys when the first Star Wars movies came out, and when birthdays and Christmas came, I
remember their asking for the Star Wars
figurines and spaceships that came out as toys. I took the boys to stores and
looked at catalogs to see which characters and ships they wanted most. “Can I
have this one, Dad?” I thought this stuff was cool, lots cooler than the toys
available when I was a kid. I enjoyed buying it, and I really enjoyed giving it
and seeing how much fun the boys had playing with it. Giving gifts to your kids
can be a strong bonding experience and a great memory.
Asking and giving can be about love, about relationship.
That’s the way prayer is with our Father in heaven. Jesus revealed that prayer
is much more than a needy person coming to a powerful person for favors. God
views prayer as a relationship between a good father and his children. Jesus
said:
“Which one of you, if
his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a
fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father who is in heaven
give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9–11, ESV)
Bonding with God through answered prayers
We all want things, not just “toys” but important things we
need or want. It could be a job or a needed pay increase, a healing or wisdom
to solve a problem, a spouse or a child. Unfortunately the more we want them,
the likelier it is our prayers to God will become merely utilitarian—how can we
get God to give us what we ask? Our petitions can become more about the request
than about our relationship with the Father who loves us. This is a problem
because that’s not how the Father primarily views prayer. For him, prayer is
about love and bonding, relationship and time together.
God has designed our relationship around prayer. It is
central to how he relates to us. I’ve known people who had a religious
background that taught we should never pray for ourselves, but only for others.
They learned it was selfish to ask God for anything for yourself. Well, they
certainly didn’t learn that from reading the Gospels. No one urges people to
pray for themselves more than Jesus.
Why would he do this? Because the Father does not resent our
requests or wish we would go away. Rather, the Father loves it when we come to
him with our wants and needs. He enjoys our requests. He compares our prayers
to incense (Rev. 5:8). He invites us to ask and keep asking until we receive.
He enjoys seeing how happy we are when we receive his answers. He enjoys,
really enjoys, really really enjoys hearing us say thank you. He enjoys seeing
us enjoy what he gives.
Why? Because he is good, generous, and kind.
Prayer is about relationship and love, and that’s why God
enjoys it, because he is love. He is a relational being, a giver, a
let’s-be-together person.
Moreover, our Father loves our faith. He enjoys it when we
have enough faith in him to ask for what we want. This kind of faith brings him
glory. God delights in our petitions because he delights in our faith, and that
is also one reason why our petitions might take a while to be answered.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: We may not want to take time for prayer. We
may want to hurry the process and get the answer as quickly as possible. We may
not think God wants us to make personal requests.
God’s way: Prayer
is a central and foundation aspect of our love relationship with our heavenly
Father. Hearing and answering prayer is one of our heavenly Father’s greatest
pleasures. It’s the central activity he shares with us, just as loving human
fathers have certain things they love doing with their kids, such as eating
popcorn together or going for a bike ride together.
Life principle: If
you are not practicing daily prayer that includes asking your Father in heaven
for the things you desire most, with an attitude of childlike trust that he
will give what is best when it is best, you are missing one of the most
important ways of bonding with your Father and experiencing his love.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘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 in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)
Imagine a family of four: a man and his wife and son, age 5,
and daughter, age 7. The man has a well-paying job, and his wife stays home to
give full-time childcare. The man is an affectionate father who hugs his
children and tells them how much he loves them every morning when he leaves the
house and every evening when he returns. All is well for this family until the
man decides he wants more money to spend on travel, golf, and expensive dining
at a private club.
He decides that the way to get the money he wants is to
gamble. He begins going regularly to casinos, gambling more and more, winning
now and then, but losing far more than he gains. Soon he spends his savings and
begins going into debt to try to make up his losses with a big win.
He still has a family. Every morning when he leaves the
house and every evening when he returns, he hugs and kisses his children and
tells them how much he loves them. But one day he tells his wife that they can
no longer afford to buy clothes and toys for the children. A few weeks later he
tells her to get a part-time job to pay for groceries because he can no longer
afford to provide food for the family. He tells her that the kids are old
enough to take care of themselves for a few hours a day while she is at work.
Every morning when he leaves the house and every evening
when he returns, he hugs and kisses the kids and tells them how much he loves
them.
No, we would say, he doesn’t love his children. No father
who truly loved his children would fail to provide for them like this. Loving
fathers provide the fundamental needs of their dependents.
Jesus, on daily bread
Jesus based his teaching about money and the meeting of our
daily needs on this principle. God is our Father, we are his dependents. Loving
fathers, good fathers, provide for the fundamental needs of their children. For
this reason, Jesus taught that we don’t have to worry about the provision of
our daily necessities.
In his main teaching on this subject, notice in verses 26
and 32 below that Jesus bases his assurances about the full provision of our needs
on the caring Fatherhood of God:
“24 No
one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and money. 25 Therefore I
tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will
drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food,
and the body more than clothing? 26
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not of more value than they? 27
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious
about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither
toil nor spin, 29 yet I
tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the
grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we
eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need
them all. 33 But seek
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you. 34 Therefore
do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:24–34, ESV)
Ultimate responsibility for daily bread
Neglect and love are incompatible.
Your Father in heaven loves you, and you can be sure he is a
good Father who takes his responsibility seriously. He has no limitations. He
is fully able to provide for you. Therefore he does not expect you to live as
if the ultimate responsibility for meeting your needs rested on your shoulders,
as if there were no God ruling the world. No, Jesus taught that your heavenly
Father is fully aware of your needs and that you are valuable to him as his
child. He takes ultimate responsibility for meeting your needs.
Of course, as a good Father he is raising mature children
who learn to work hard and be responsible—but we are never to think we have
ultimate responsibility for provision. We are not God. Only he rules the
affairs of this world. So our responsibility is to work and to manage our money
well.
But, Jesus taught, in verse 33, we are not to fear like those
who don’t know God, not to live for money like those who don’t know God, not to
live unrighteously like those who don’t know God, and not to make the kingdom
of God anything lower than first priority like those who don’t know God. If we
will “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…all these things will
be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Why? Because God is your father, he is good,
and he loves you. Those who walk in his ways enjoy his full provision.
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen
people live as though God is not their provider, as though money, job, career,
job skills, a corporation, the economy, or a boss were their ultimate provider.
These are the secondary sources of our provision, but the ultimate source is God
the Father.
God’s way: As a
loving, caring Father, the Lord gives infinite attention to faithfully
providing everything we truly need. God uses secondary sources to provide, but secondary
sources only work because he makes them work. (See James 1:17; Psalm 104:10-32;
Romans 11:36)
Life principle:
The key to enjoying your Father’s faithful provision for every real need is to
live by the rules of his house: to seek first his kingdom, that is, his rule in
every aspect of your life, and to seek first his righteousness, that is, his commands
for how to live in the way that pleases him. Surrender control of your life to
God, and obey his commandments, and you will never lack for your true
essentials.
“Thus says the Lord…Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me” Jeremiah 9:23-24
Our heavenly Father wants to hold us to his bosom.
Over the next seven weeks I plan to continue exploring the
theme of God’s love by focusing more closely on how God’s love is revealed in
his fatherhood. Here are subjects we will explore in the loving fatherhood of
God:
The Intimacy of Absolute Trust: He wants to hold us to his bosom.
Daily Bread: He wants to provide for us.
Answering Requests: He wants to give what we ask.
Compassionate Help: He wants to sympathize and help us.
Wise and Loving Discipline: He wants to train us to be mature and righteous.
Security: He wants to protect us.
Inheritance: He wants to give us all he owns.
Identity: He wants us to be like him.
Today let’s take the first on the list.
The Intimacy of Absolute Trust
Because God loves us, he wants our relationship with him to
have the intimacy that comes from absolute trust. Intimate trust is what good
fathers have with good children.
God calls on us to trust him absolutely, without
reservation, as a young child trusts a good father. Jesus said, “Truly, I say
to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3, ESV).
The example of God the Father and God the Son
Jesus displays what the intimacy of absolute trust looks
like. Scripture says, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He
has explained [Him.]” (John 1:18, NASB).
To be “in the bosom” of another person means to have your
head on their chest, or to be in their embrace. The bosom is the front of the
body between the arms. I have seen my son Brian carry his infant son Erlend in
a harness that holds Erlend facing him chest to chest. Erlend falls peacefully
asleep there in the bosom of his father, the top of his head just below Brian’s
chin.
The bosom of the father is not just for infants. In one
parable, Jesus told how one wealthy man now in Hades “saw Abraham far away and
Lazarus in his bosom” (Luke 16:22–23, NASB). Lazarus was the poor man who
during his life had lived in abject poverty, who had lain at the gate of the
wealthy man with dogs licking his sores. But now Lazarus was in paradise,
comforted by father Abraham himself, in the bosom, in the embrace, of the great
patriarch.
In another example, we find that reclining in front of
someone at the meal table could be described as being in the person’s bosom. In
the culture of Jesus’ time, people ate special meals lying on their sides on mats,
leaning on their elbow, with their heads at the table and bodies perpendicular
to the table. The mats could be close enough that a person could lean back and
lay their head on their neighbor’s chest. So it happened at the Last Supper. After
Jesus revealed that someone would betray him, Scripture says, “There was
reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. So Simon
Peter gestured to him, and said to him, ‘Tell [us] who it is of whom He is
speaking.’ He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, ‘Lord, who is
it?’” (John 13:23–25, NASB).
Here, the beloved disciple John was in the place to hear from
Jesus directly in his ear a secret revealed. He was in the bosom of Jesus, able
to receive confidential information.
In the Father’s embrace
John 1:18 describes Jesus as being in the bosom of his
Father in heaven. This is God’s ideal. He wants each of his children to be in
his bosom. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, when the prodigal finally came
to his senses and was walking home from debauchery in a distant land, “his
father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and
embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). This is how our loving Father in
heaven feels about his repentant children. He wants us against his bosom, wrapped
in his arms, relying on him as our refuge. There the son or daughter can know
they are perfectly safe, for in the bosom of the Father is the only place of
true safety. There our souls can rest in absolute, unqualified trust, as
peaceful and carefree as an infant asleep on daddy’s chest.
God wants you to trust him without reservation
Our absolute trust and the intimacy that comes with it is so
important to God that he has determined to save only those who have faith in
him and his words. (Eph. 2:8–9)
He calls us again and again to trust him.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5, ESV).
“Thus says the LORD: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit’” (Jeremiah 17:5–8, ESV).
“Those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you” (Psalm 9:10, ESV).
“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:8, ESV).
“O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield” (Psalm 115:9–11, ESV).
“O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!” (Psalm 84:12, ESV)
“Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever” (Psalm 125:1, ESV).
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2, ESV).
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock” (Isaiah 26:3–4, ESV).
“Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God” (Isaiah 50:10, ESV).
Our way and God’s way
Our way: Fallen
people lean on their own understanding, or the world’s understanding, or
Satan’s false insinuations about God’s character.
God’s way: God is
absolutely, perfectly, always, and evermore faithful, truthful, benevolent, and
therefore trustworthy.
Life principle:
The only safe way to live is to trust in God and his Word without reservation.
