The Sandbag Times Issue No:23

Have Faith
God the Father
Last night my kids
were very anxious and
on edge. Neither of
them slept well. My
youngest came
thudding down the
stairs at 11 o’clock,
frightened from a bad
dream. I’d been sat
down trying to figure out what God wanted me to write about this
week, and not getting very far. Anyway, I took him back upstairs and
to my surprise found my eldest tucked up in my bed. I sorted them
out and went to bed myself having no idea what I was going to write
this week. As I lay there with barely any room frightened to move
just in case I disturbed them, I started to think about this moment, how
they come to me when they’re scared. Children tend to look to their
parents for safety, security, reassurance and comfort. Now I know
that not all of us had parents that we could do that with. I have many
friends who have little or no relationship with their parents, but
thankfully there are some of us that do. My parents weren’t always
reliable, they made mistakes and would get impatient with me, but I
intrisically knew that they would always keep me safe.
Last week I talked about how we worry about keeping our children
safe especially in this world that we live in. We only have to read the
news or even look on Facebook to see murders, child abuse,
paedophile rings uncovered, abductions, accidental deaths of
children, the list is endless. Anyway the point I’m trying to make is
that parents try their best to keep their children safe, to offer comfort,
security and reassurance.
So what about those who’s parents don’t offer this, or those who
don’t have parents, or who’s parents have died. Who do they look to?
There are usually role models in our lives that offer this, but many
grow up with no sense of security or of being loved.
When Jesus was on earth He had Joseph who was
like a step dad I guess. He would’ve done all the things
expected of him as a father, and as he was human (not
perfect), he probably often got things wrong. Even
though he would have been trying his best. However
Jesus knew His father was God. Even as young as 12,
He wanted to be with His heavenly father. In Luke
2:41-52 Jesus went up to Jerusalem with His parents
for the Feast of the Passover. Large groups travelled
together and His parents had assumed He was with them on their
journey home. However after travelling for a day, they realised that He
was missing. So they went back to Jerusalem to search for Him. After
three days of searching they found Him in the temple.
‘When his parents saw him they were atonished. His mother
said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father
and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you
searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my
Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying
to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was
obedient to them.’ (Luke 48-51)
Throughout His ministry Jesus spoke of God the father. When He
taught the disciples to pray (The Lord’s Prayer), He started with ‘Our
Father’. Now many of us have difficulty getting our head around the
fact that God is our Father in Heaven, and it must be especially
difficult for those without a father on earth.
It is hard to imagine who God the Father is, especially if we have
had no relationship or a difficult one with our fathers. As human
beings we tend to associate our experience of parenting when
developing an image of who
God the Father is. This is
usually faulty because God is
not blighted by the frailty of
humanness. So how do we get
to know who God the Father
is? We look to the word of
God.
Now I have read teh Bible, but still get the wrong impression of
God. My dad used to have a very short fuse, and although I don’t
disagree with the need for discipline or boundaries I think sometimes
one can be a bit too heavy handed. I loved my Dad so much, but grew
up in fear of getting things wrong, so I spent all my time trying to get
it right and please him, because I wanted him to love me. There are
many of us that do this. Then there are those who were in need of
reassurance but who’s father was not there at all, or was too busy to
have the time. I am not pointing the finger, as I said before we are all
trying our best, and none of us gets it right all of the time. We are
influenced by the way our parents parented, our upbringing, our
experiences, our environment. I know as a parent I get things wrong,
only yesterday I chose the wrong words when speaking to my
daughter and she made sure I knew it!!
So how can we form an understanding of the true Father God. In
the Old Testament we read of a God that became displeased with the
Israelites and we have all heard of the wrath of God., and read of Old
Testament people being struck down by God for going against Him.
It is written ‘Fear God’, however I have begun to
learn that this term is not how we would translate it.
I think of the fear I had of my father. I would worry
that if I got things wrong he wouldn’t love me.
However God loves us no matter what, because His
love is unconditional, and this ‘fear’ actually means
to revere God and have the utmost respect for Him.
‘God is love’ and as I have said in previous articles
He loves us no matter what. But how can we
believe God loves us when we are constantly
reminded of the Old Testament punishments.
Jesus came to earth as God the son, to show us in human form who
God is. By getting to know Jesus we can begin to understand the
heart of God. God sent His only son to be sacrificed so that he could
have a relationship with all of us. That is how much He loves each
one of us (John 3:16).
I read an excellent book a while back by Phillip Yancey called
‘The Jesus I Never Knew’. It really helped me to form a fuller and
more realistic picture of who Jesus was. He showed love, compassion,
and mercy. He healed, He grieved, He got angry, He wept. This
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