Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
Exodus 20:12
In the Lord’s fifth commandment, we see the first of His Laws that deals with man’s relationship with man, rather than with man’s relationship with God. Additionally, it is the first commandment that offers an additional blessing for following it. If you honor your father and mother, you will live more than the prescribed time. Yet it is faulty logic to think that anyone who lives a long time must have honored their parents! With that being said, God could choose to allow me to live a long time, but I will not have earned that blessing with a lifetime of honoring my own father.
My father and I have suffered through a tumultuous past. When I was in my early twenties, I chose to walk away from him entirely, and for over 20 years had no contact with him whatsoever. It is likely that the majority of fathers and sons struggle in their relationships, for as sons find themselves in the late teen or early adulthood years, they begin to think they know it all. With the wisdom of years of experience, fathers vividly see how little their sons really know. Regardless of what caused the split in my family, the relationship severed completely. But after all those years, a miracle occurred. God grabbed both of us! Dad had attended church for years. Though he might have identified himself as a Christian, it was more of a ritual than a relationship. He wife, though, had given her life to Jesus, and was praying for his salvation, along with restoration in our relationship. On the other hand, I was walking in a way completely contrary to God and God’s teachings, without thought or care. But one day, tired of my own repetitive failures, I decided to give God a chance.
Soon after, my Dad and I got together for the first time in over 20 years. Miraculously, there was instantaneous healing. Rather than rehashing the past, we both decided to forgive each other and walk forward. Instead of it being a stressful weekend, there was complete joy for both of us. Since that day, the relationship has grown closer. Along the way, I discovered that old friends had been praying for my relationship with my Dad for years. Two in particular, who had recently lost their Christian fathers, asked the Lord to let me know my father’s love while on this earth. Sweetly, that prayer has been answered.
God places each of us in families, and He chose the perfect place for us all. Certainly, there are times when we would question that, as families can bring much frustration and sadness to our lives. Yet that can be part of the brokenness that God uses to bring us to Him! It is much easier to understand how our heavenly Father loves us when given the example of our earthly father, at least most of the time. For many years, I didn’t feel that love, and consequently, didn’t understand God’s love. But that has come full circle. Once my relationship with my heavenly Father was on solid ground, I began to understand the relationship with my earthly father. Yesterday, I received the following comment from one of the prayer warriors:
“I would like all to pray for growing our relationship with our earthly fathers and heavenly Father. It is never too late to repair either relationship and both are the most important you can have in life. Happy Father's Day!!”
If you want to know the Father’s heart for all of us as sinners, read the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:
11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
Luke 15:11-24
No matter what we have done, the Father is willing to welcome us into His arms. That is the heart of our Father, who sent His only Son to earth to die for our sins. Though the Father loves Jesus will all of His being, He wanted to show His love for us:
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
Isaiah 53:10
Happy Father’s Day to our earthly fathers, who God appointed for each of us, and to our heavenly Father!
so, I guess for someone like me who has never had or known parents, who's denied any paternal information, should FINALLY realize that God is our/my Father, and the only Father we/I need. I get it. I will try & remember each day to feel the care & love for "his little girl"... Hopefully it will soften me...:)
ReplyDeleteLisa