The Father-Love of God
Do you see God as your Father?
Verse of the Day
‘Our Father in heaven’
‘Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God?’
Today’s Devotional
The place where Jesus started in prayer was with how to address God in prayer. As with any form of communication, it helps to know who you are talking to. In prayer, Jesus tells us that we are talking to our Father.
According to Anthony Lee Ash, the use of the term “father” for God is rare in the Old Testament. Today’s second verse from Malachi is one of the rare examples. Jesus, when He stayed behind at the Temple as a 12 year-old, told His parents after a frantic three day search, “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49)
This concept, then, of addressing Almighty God as “Father”, was a relatively new concept for those hearing this instruction. And if Jesus is teaching them (and us) something new, we must pay attention to what He is teaching.
As a parent, I have a special affection for my children. They need not be perfect, or do anything to earn my love. I love them because they are MINE. Perhaps that is what Jesus is teaching us by instructing us to call on God as “Father”.
Because I am nothing but a student myself, I will share what other scholars have to say about the Father-love of God.
Richard Foster wrote something that helps me to understand what Jesus is teaching us. “Jesus taught us to come like children to a father. Openness, honesty, and trust mark the communication of children with their father. Children do not find it difficult or complicated to talk to their parents, nor do they feel embarrassed to bring the simplest need to their attention. Neither should we hesitate to bring the simplest requests confidently to the Father.”
Andrew Murray, in his book With Christ in the School of Prayer, has much to say about the Father-love of God:
- “The Lord is concerned about you the way a father and mother are concerned about their children. Do not think about how little you have to give to God, but about how much He wants to give to you. Just place yourself before His face and look up into it. Think of His wonderful, tender, concerned love. Tell Him how sinful, cold, and dark everything is. The Father’s loving heart will give light and warmth to yours.”
- “These words [Our Father] place us at once in the center of the wonderful revelation that Jesus came to make: His Father is our Father, too.”
- “The opening words of this prayer are the key to the whole prayer and to all prayer. It takes time and life to study them; it will take eternity to understand them fully.
- “The knowledge of God’s Father-love is the first and simplest, but also the last and highest lesson in the school of prayer. Prayer begins in a personal relationship with the living God as well as a personal, conscious, fellowship of love with Him.”
- “In the knowledge of God’s fatherliness revealed by the Holy Spirit, the power of prayer will root and grow. The life of prayer has its joy in the infinite tenderness, care, and patience of an infinite Father who is ready to hear and to help.”
With these simple words, “Our Father”, Jesus is conveying the message that God wants so much more than an impersonal call-when-needed relationship with each of us. He is trying to teach us the nature of God’s love with the way He is telling us to address God in prayer. Jesus is showing us that we are each a beloved son or daughter of the Most High God. That simple revelation is breathtaking. It is humbling in its truth. May we learn to meditate on the Father’s love as we learn to accept it. May we humbly and gratefully come to the Father in prayer in the way Jesus is teaching us to do.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How comfortable are you with calling God your Father?
Is your communication with God marked by openness, honesty, and trust? How could you practice being more open, honest, and trusting with your Father?
How do you feel when you think about God’s wonderful, tender, concerned love for you?
Are you willing to spend some time alone with God and ask Him to shower you with His love for you? Are you willing to learn to receive God’s love as your Father?