Experiencing God as a Father


Happy Father's Day!

Last morning, I scrambled through the pages from the Bible to look for a Bible verse to dedicate to my father and I found Proverbs 4:3

³ When I [Solomon] was a son with my father [David], tender and the only son in the sight of my mother [Bathsheba],

⁴ He taught me and said to me, Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and live.(A)

⁵ Get skillful and godly Wisdom, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation); do not forget and do not turn back from the words of my mouth.

Personally, I praise God so much for my earthly father who has given me practically everything - both the good and the bad and made me into someone I am now. If not for my earthly father, I wouldn't have know intimately the greatest father there is, God, the Father. I believe that our fathers have the most important role in our family. It is in them, children will see as they would the Heavenly Father. The past has brought me a very distorted image of the Heavenly Father and as a result I was rebelling - I have a double life into extremes: I was both involve in a ministry in our local church and has been made a deacon and I was involved in a very sinful lifestyle - to name each them may enable you to despise me. I have prayed to God many times to be changed but I still continue to commit the same sins. What was wrong?

When I attended the Cross Current sessions I came face to face with my past. There was this session about being secured in God's love. God as a Father, demonstrates his Fatherly attribute of securing us in His love - for we cannot love other people if we are secured in His love It is this love that we do not have to prove anything or work out anything to gain His approval, that we are His sons and daughters whom He is well pleased. But how we view God as a father is sometimes distorted primarily because of what our earthly fathers has been to us. We don't feel secured that we are loved by our earthly fathers. I tell you, they do love us but as we grow up we don't perceive it as it is. I do not wish to dishonor my earthly father here but my earthly father like all of our fathers is not a perfect father. He may have hurted you in one way or another and that hurt left a deep scar in your heart. You may have been "emotionally orphaned" because of his neglect because he doesn't have time for you. There are so many reasons. But the entire blame should not be directed only to our fathers. We too have our share of how we reject the times our fathers tried to be a father to us. There was one time when my father tried to teach me how to drive the car and he even bought a motorcycle for us to use but I responded with coldness and disinterest. I now realized that my father has been trying to connect with me but I was so consumed with the hate I have for him Because of that hate - my life was total mess. Outside, I appeared to be good but deep inside I was a mess. Sin was eating me 'till I rot wallowing in addiction to sinful lifestyle I thought would bring me happiness.

In that afternoon, God was pursuing me like a father would to a son. It was the perfect time to let go of the hurt (It must have taken me at least 3 years to contemplate on these things, starting from knowing and understanding) and release your father. It was time to "bury" that distorted perception and to forgive my earthly father. Jesus died for my sin at the foot of the cross and I lay them down before Him. I felt I was the "prodigal son" from Jesus' parable who came back to be with his father. From that moment on, God's love instantly "poured". I say "poured" because it's the best word to describe that experience. I should say that from that moment on, I experience in full extent how my earthly father is really a loving father to me whose interests for me are for the best.

To end up I'd like to say that nowadays, we are a fatherless nation. Increasing number of sons becoming felons ending in jails or homosexuals seeking "father" substitutes, psychologically speaking in other men. Daughters impulsively jump from relationship to relationship with many men hoping they could feel the love their fathers should have given them through the men they're with. If you are a father, pray that in every way you model God's fathering to your children. If you are a son or daughter reading this article, pray for your earthly fathers and if you feel you are not loved by your father, God is the greatest father there is! He is the father when at times your earthly father fail. "He is the father to the fatherless, the answer to your dreams". God Bless You All.