"No matter what you've gone through, He has always been there with you."
Scripture Reference: Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Projecting Your Father on God
I hate Father’s Day. There, I said it. Now, don’t freak out on me. I know you’re asking yourself, “How can she not like Father’s Day?”
Mainly, I’m irritated by the fuzzy, warm commercials that come out this time of year because we live in a world where many children grow up with feelings of abandonment, fear, and hatred from absentee or abusive fathers. Then in church, we learn that we (and our earthly fathers) are made in God’s image. “So, if my father was an abusive alcoholic, does that mean God is also?”
Hearing God called Father can be cringe-worthy to those of us whose fathers were not good men. I hated the term “God the Father” for years until I finally realized God wasn’t anything like my earthly father. Maybe you never knew your father, or maybe he left and started another family. It’s hard not to assume God will abandon you as well. That’s where faith comes in.
Faith means trusting God’s word. His word says that He is with you always and will never leave you. Isaiah 41:10 tells us to Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Need more proof? Look to 1 John 3:1, 1 John 4:16, Psalm 86:15, and of course John 3:16 which shows the greatest gift of love from God–Jesus. Need that verse more personal? How about: For God loves you so much that He gave His one and only Son, that if you believe in him, you shall not perish but have eternal life. The more personal you make God’s word, the deeper you begin to understand God’s love for you.
God loves and protects His children the way a father should. No matter what you’ve gone through, He has always been there with you. He longs for a deep parental connection with you. To get that connection, we must allow Him into the dark parts of our lives where our pain is the deepest.
The deeper you allow God in, the more healing and joy you will feel. The more you allow Him to hold you in times of trials, the more confidence in Him you will have. And the more you give your life over to God, the more you will feel His peace. With all that comes the love of a true Father; a love some of us might never have known growing up.
No matter how sappy or sweet a Father’s Day commercial might be, it can never give you the warmth of God’s loving arms. When it comes down to it, God is the true meaning of the word “Father”. The closer you draw to God as Father, the more you will realize He has always been there with you, loving you.
I’ve decided to start a new tradition—celebrate God my Father every third Sunday in June. Then maybe those sappy commercials won’t bother me so much. Maybe some of you might need to join me this year and find new meaning in the word “Father”.
Questions:
Do you project any part of your relationship with your father onto your relationship with God? If so, which parts?
Take a step back and think about your day. How has God shown His love for you today? For what can you thank Him today?
Optional Prayer: “Dear God, I lay all my hurts and worries at the foot of Your cross, knowing that You, Heavenly Father, will heal them and me. Help me to look to You for all things, and to know that You are always with me, and that You truly love me more than I can ever imagine. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.”
