God the Father
Do you see God as your Father?
Verse of the Day
The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
Psalm 103:13
Today’s Devotional
I was with a group of women today and I was sharing an interaction I had with God. One of these women said, “Isn’t it beautiful when God comes to us as a Father?” I hadn’t even considered that aspect of God when it happened. But true enough, God is our Father.
Today’s verse emphasizes the compassion and tenderness that God has for us if we fear him, which means that we hold Him in reverent awe and that we respect His authority.
Seeing God as Father can be difficult because we are forced to differentiate God from our earthly fathers, who are human and fallible. These men do the best they can with what they know, but there is no way to compare an earthly father to who God is as our Father. I am finding that the only way to even begin to understand God as Father is to ask Him to show me what it means for Him to be my Father. This is a process that (for me) takes time and repetition.
Let’s look at a few of the verses in the Bible that are teaching us that God is our Father.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:14-16)
Sing praises to God and to his name! Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds. His name is the Lord-rejoice in his presence! Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— This is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; He sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. (Psalm 68:4-6)
Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. (James 1:17-18)
So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom. (Luke 12:32)
Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us, Lord, you would still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past. (Isaiah 63:16)
And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)
But for us, there is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live. (1 Corinthians 8:6)
There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all. (Ephesians 4:5-6)
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. (1 John 3:1)
Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? (Malachi 2:10)
The thing that stands out to me today is how consistent the message is from the Old and New Testaments. God has been trying to get us to realize from the very beginning that He is our Father, that He wants a Father-child relationship with us. He wants us to depend on him is a similar fashion to how a small child depends on his father for every single need. Think of a 4-year-old child. How much does that child need a Dad? That’s how much each of us needs God. For every single need that we have, every single day that we live.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Which if the verses above speak to you about God being your Father?
What is God reminding you of about who He is?
How do you need God to be your Father today? What do you need?
How can you thank God for wanting to be your Father?