Father & Sons

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 7:11

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My son is right around a year-and-a-half old. He’s walking, climbing, throwing and wrecking with the best of them. He is a glutton for his parents’ attention and always on the lookout for things to get into, rearrange, jump on, open, or use to make noise. 

Most of the time, he doesn’t understand when it’s time to stop. He doesn’t enjoy being guided toward something unless it’s something he already wants to do. He gets mad and throws fits when he doesn't get what he wants. Many of his parents’ instructions go in one ear and out the other and have to be repeated on at least a daily basis. 

In short, my son is a lot like how his father is spiritually.

And yet, despite the chaos and misunderstanding and selfishness and irrational temper tantrums, my wife and I go out of our way to make sure he is taken care of. We prioritize his meals, his cleanliness, his sleep schedule, and his pain if he does end up hurting himself (which he absolutely does). We do not require him to come up to our level in order to communicate with him, help him, protect him or love him. He may not understand how it all works or why, but that doesn’t keep it from working.

And just like that, a little light flicks on in my head.

If, in my own sinful, imperfect and flawed attempts, I manage to love my son in any sort of microscopically fractional way that could somehow be relatable to how God loves me (and, of course, by extension, all of His children), then the words of Christ begin to open themselves to my understanding in all kinds of new ways.

Don’t babble on when you pray, like pagans do, thinking their commitment will be displayed by their verbosity. Instead, state things simply and directly, because, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:8) And of course He does. He sees circumstances and dynamics and factors of my life I don’t even begin to understand. He knows me better than I know myself and loves me anyway. 

He knows how to give me discipline that will, “yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness,” even though to me, “all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant.” (Hebrews 12:11) Just like with my own son, who is not always happy with me or in the least bit understanding when he has reached the point of exhaustion and needs to rest, or who looks at me with a mix of confusion and accusation when I flick his bottom for continuing to climb onto something that is dangerous for him, our God is only ever loving with His discipline and only has our best interests at heart. This can be confusing when we see what we think is the prosperity or happiness of other people around us and come to the conclusion that God is keeping something back from us or punishing us for some sin He is resolutely angry about. Instead, we should realize that what He is resolute about is making us more like Jesus and preparing us for an eternal existence about which we know next to nothing. 

So, if we know how to take care of our children despite our many faults and failings and selfish tendencies, how much more should we able to trust that the Lord is not only fully capable, but also eager and willing to see us through the direst and most heartrending circumstances of our lives? If He guides us away from something we care about, it will only be towards something else that is better for us. If He disciplines us, it will only be to strengthen and refine. If He tests us, it will only be to teach us how to be more dependent on and trusting toward Him. 

He sees what we do not see and He loves perfectly. We understand this in microcosm through the love we have for our own children. So we should rest assured: we can trust that He has us right where He wants us for reasons we may not yet (or ever) understand. But our lack of understanding does not mean that it is not good. He will move us when it is time to move, He will feed us when it is time to eat, and He will lay us down when it is time to rest (Psalm 23:2).  He will test us (Deuteronomy 8:2), assisting us when we need help (Psalm 46:1) and restoring us when we fail (Psalm 71:20-21; I Peter 5:10). 

The Lord is a good Father. He loves us better than we understand. You can rest in that, Christian. In the midst of your struggles, your disappointments and your stress, you can trust that the same God who gave His own life to purchase the right to adopt you into the family has not and will never decide to let you go.  

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“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God;
and so we are.” - I John 3:1