I remember visiting Iris Ministries orphanage in Madagascar this year on the race. They have over 100 children living at their site. They take any abandoned child off the street and make room for more to stay with them. Their mission is to ensure that all children feel like their apart of a family. They not only give children a home but offer schooling within their compound. The women here are so passionate about what they do. They love each child with every ounce of their being and the children love them too! They display the love of God incredibly to each child they save and embrace them as their own. Amazing right?
Then I realized something. They love children just as God loves us. It wasn’t until last month, that God wanted to show me this kind of love, as HIS daughter. As some of you may know, I’ve struggled to believe that God is good and that he wants good things for me. I have this insatiable desire to please God, but I feel like I always fall short of pleasing him. I also never viewed God as my father. I knew that God was called an “Everlasting Father,” but I didn’t correlate the two. I found that a lot of my squad mates on the race reference God as their “Dad.” I just love the way my teammate Emily would start off each of her prayers saying “Papa.” Besides the fact that I thought it was absolutely adorable, I knew she was intimate with the Father. There was this sense of endearment that I longed to have with God.
But it felt weird because I didn’t know him as my Dad. I only knew him as God, the Almighty.
However, scripture shows us countless times that God IS our Father. Jesus always mentioned God as “Father” in the Gospels. In fact, Jesus always submitted to his father’s will even unto death (Luke 22:42). Here are just a few I found:
“My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” Proverbs 3:11-12
“I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” John 14:18
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Romans 8:15-16
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” 1 John 3:1
“Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.” Psalm 68:5
“…and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…” Isaiah 9:6
This past month, he’s been taking me through the book of Deuteronomy, one of my favorite books of the Old Testament. I love it because God was relentlessly pursuing his children even in their disobedience. Over and over again, God repeats to the Israelites the promises he has for them. He reminds them numerous times how he delivered them from slavery. If you have ever read Deuteronomy, you might find yourself getting super frustrated at God (or the Israelites for that matter), because all he does is repeat himself. Why?
So they wouldn’t forget.
The Israelites were great at forgetting. As God was leading the Israelites out of Egypt, he led them through what was known as the “great and terrifying wilderness.” The people couldn’t understand why God would lead them out of slavery in Egypt just to bring them to a sweltering desert, filled with more enemies and more uncertainties. They believed that God just wanted to destroy them (Deuteronomy 1:27). What they didn’t realize was that their father was carrying them through this barren place. Deuteronomy 1:30 reads,
“The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes and in the wilderness…,”
The next part is essential:
“where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.”
God carried the Israelites the way a father would carry his own child! I pictured a father picking up his son to put on his shoulders, or playfully put his daughter on his back. I also envisioned what it would look like for a father to cradle his wounded child.
That’s our God. He’s our Dad. He’s my Dad. He wants to lead us, hold onto us, and carry us through even some of the most difficult times in our life. And in the good times, God wants to celebrate with us, embrace us, lavish us with his love, but sometimes we don’t always believe that he does. We believe God just wants to punish us…well for most of my life that’s what I thought. During my time on the race, God opened my eyes to see him as a Loving Father. A father who disciplines us not with malicious intent but from his abounding love. It’s still something I’m learning as well.
For some of you, viewing God as your Father it may feel uncomfortable, may make you really defensive or might even make you cringe at the sound of it. I did too. For some of you, your dad left you at a young age. He may have abandoned you. Maybe he was abusive to you, verbally and physically. Maybe he was a raging alcoholic. Maybe he hurt your mom. Maybe he died when you were really little or unexpectedly. Maybe your dad worked too much and never made time to play with you. Maybe he was super passive. Maybe you felt like your dad simply didn’t care for you…or worst… he didn’t love you. All of this to say, maybe your dad left a gaping hole in your heart and you’ve been trying to fill it with things for years. I’ve been there.
I want you to know that this doesn’t reflect your heavenly father. He does not abandon us, he doesn’t leave us when things get difficult. He’s a loving Dad always looking out for our best interests. He doesn’t mind reminding us of that love, either. I have to remind myself every day. Sometimes saying it out loud helps.
I want you to know that it’s normal to not see God as your Dad. Our earthly father’s may have been the first guys to have broken our hearts but I want you to know our Dad heals hearts (Psalm 147:3). He is close to those who are contrite and lowly in spirit (Psalm 51:17). He does not shame us or guilt us for our wrong doings and in like the story of the prodigal son, the Father searches intently for us and eagerly waits for our return because he longs to embrace us!
My heavenly Dad loves me… and he loves you too! If you’re struggling in this area, I want you to repeat this to yourself every day, even if it’s hard to believe at first. IT’S THE TRUTH.
