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march 28, 2004
the father
heart of God (part
2)
by John Dawson
parental faithfulness
Every promise of God will be fulfilled. He
is consistently loving. His one heart motive remains the same
through time and eternity. He never
changes. His primary desire is to show love and forgiveness.
Do you distrust God? Our distrust hurts Him
deeply. What if I came home to my wife and children after
a long journey and they ran away from me when I opened the
door and called their names. I would be terribly hurt.
You are God's child and even now He calls
your name, but maybe deep in your heart you doubt His faithfulness.
As a child you may have experienced the complete absence of
a father because of death or divorce. Maybe you were orphaned
by the demands of your parents' career? Or is it just the
childhood memory of broken promises or neglect that haunts
you? Some of you screamed for hours as babies but nobody came
to relieve you of your discomfort and hunger. Some of you
whimpered behind locked doors, a small child, forgotten and
alone.
Do you have an inability to sense His presence
with you? Is your heart soft towards God or hardened with
cynicism and distrust? Look up into His eyes and see His love
for you.
I will never desert you,
nor will I ever forsake you...
I am with you always
even until the end of the age.
(Heb. 13:5; Matt.28:20 NASB)
You may say to me, "But if He has loved
me so much, then why haven't I felt Him or seen Him?"
It isn't God who has failed you my friend, but I and those
who know His love personally. Too many times we have failed
to become His voice and His hands to those who do not know
Him. Far too few allow themselves to be driven by the broken
heart of Jesus into the dark corners of this world where the
poor and needy wait. Jesus is not attracted to pleasant places,
but to hurting people. He pursues us with His love from our
first breathing moment until the day we die.
Your Heavenly Father was there when you first
walked as a child. He was there through hurts and disappointments.
He is present now at this moment. You were briefly loaned
to human parents who, for a few years, were supposed to have
showered you with love like His love. But you are and always
will be a child of God, made in His image. Your loving Father
awaits even now with outstretched arms. What would keep you
from Him?
Few people know God in all His loveliness
while living this brief life. Many of us are like the thief
who died on the cross next to Jesus. Outwardly he saw a bloody,
disfigured body, but soon he began to perceive the true nature
of Jesus, and at the last minute, entered by faith into the
family of God. We too must see past the religious and commercial
mutations of Jesus, and behold the God of Love who still stands
with open arms saying,
I came that you might have life
and that more abundantly.
(John 10:10 NASB)
Even when we are too weak to have any
faith left, He remains faithful to us who are part of
Himself and He will always carry out His promises to us.
(2 Tim.2:13, as paraphrased in The Living Bible)
parental generosity
A few years ago I stood in a native village
in the South Pacific, watching the children play. It occurred
to me that these children would very seldom hear the words,
"Don't touch that! Leave it alone! Be careful!"
Their homes were simple, consisting of earth floors, thatched
roofs, and mats that rolled down to serve as walls at night.
In contrast, our modern homes are stuffed
with expensive and fragile furnishings and appliances that
represent a minefield of potential rejection and rebuke for
inquisitive toddlers. How many mothers have exploded in anger
at a child who has damaged a treasured object of great expense
or sentimental value. Children are constantly reminded of
the importance of things - their value, and how to care for
them. Very few times do they hear the simple words, "I
love you."
A repetitious and destructive chant is working
its way into the subconscious minds of our children, "Things
are more important than me. Things are more important than
me!" What are we to do? Abandon our modem homes? Obviously
not. But we do need to realize that our concept of God's generosity
may have been crippled by our childhood experiences.
The truth is that God is innately generous.
Creation shows an extravagance of color, complexity, and design
that goes far beyond simple functional value. At this moment,
high in the Italian Alps, a tiny white flower glistens in
the sunlight. It has never been seen by the human eye in all
of its seasons of bloom. It is not an essential part of the
food chain. It was created by God in the hope that one day
a son of Adam or a daughter of Eve might glance at it and
be blessed by its beauty.
The greatest demonstration of God's father
heart seems to come with His attention to the details of our
life. He surprises us with those extra things, those little
pleasures and treasures that only a father would know we yearn
for. God is not stingy, possessive, or materialistic. We use
people to get things, He uses things to bless people.
My family and I have worked as missionaries
since 1972, trusting God for our daily needs. Our testimony
is that in providing for us, God goes far beyond or basic
needs of food, clothing, and shelter. We serve a truly generous
God! The Psalmist said,
Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell
in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself
in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your
heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him,
and He will do it.
(Psalm 37:3-5 NASB)
parental affection
Do you have any idea how attractive you are
to God? One of the biggest hindrances to our walk with Him
is a sense that our flesh is repulsive to Him because of sin.
When my small son is covered with mud from the back yard,
I pick him up and clean him off with the garden hose. I reject
the mud, not the boy. Yes, you have sinned. Yes, you have
broken God's law as well as His heart. But you are still the
center of God's affections - the apple of His eye. It
is He who pursues us with a forgiving heart. We say, "I
found the Lord," but the truth is, He found us.
Many children, particularly boys, have had
no physical display of affection from their fathers, or no
real compassion when they are hurt. Because of our false concept
of masculinity, we are told, "Don't cry son, boys don't
cry." Jesus is not like that. His compassion and understanding
are measureless. He feels our hurts more deeply than we do
because His sensitivity to suffering is so much greater.
I once had to hold my screaming two-year-old
while a doctor stitched a large gash in his forehead. He quickly
forgot his painful experience and fell asleep in my arms.
But I was tormented by the experience and grieved for hours.
You have forgotten most of your pains, but God has not. He
has perfect recall of every moment of your life. Your tears
are still mingled with His at this very moment
God was there when you experienced cruel teasing
in the school yard and you walked alone avoiding the eyes
of others. When you sat in a math class confused and dejected,
He was with you. At the age of four when you got lost at the
county fair and wandered terrified through the huge crowd,
it was God who turned the heart of that kind lady who helped
you find your mother.
I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love.
(Hosea 11:4 NIV)
Sometimes we don't understand what a fussy,
doting Father God is. Your parents may proudly display bronzed
baby booties on the mantle, pictures in an album, or trophies
on the wall - but how does that compare with God's infinite
capacity to be overjoyed with your every success? It was actually
God who heard you speak your first real word. The hours you
spent alone exploring new textures with baby hands were a
delight to your Heavenly Father. Some of His greatest treasures
are the memories of your childhood laughter. There has never
been another child like you, and there never will be.
Moses once invoked a blessing on each of the
tribes of Israel. To one tribe he said, "You shall dwell
between the shoulders of God." What a fantastic blessing!
But that is where you dwell also. Whatever you become in the
eyes of men, even a person of great authority, fame, or title,
you will never cease to be more or less than a babe in the
arms of God.
part 3
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