The Father\’s Embrace

I watched Hannah crawl into Ben’s lap, his arms enveloping her completely, pulling her in. She nestled up in his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. Her angst of a few minutes ago was gone. She was confident of her father’s love and knew how to find solace in his embrace. This little firecracker of a girl rarely slows down, but she recognizes her need for her father’s love. And she receives it.

My thoughts drifted to my Heavenly Father. Recently I have become aware that when I pray, I most often use the word Lord. I am very comfortable relating to God as my Lord, the One who is master and holds all power and authority. Of course, this is true and there is nothing wrong with addressing God as Lord, but I have felt a nudging on my heart to acknowledge God as Father more often. Speaking Father is more intimate, even more risky. 

We are all shaped by the relationship with our earthly father, for good or bad, maybe both. The father-child relationship is very foundational to the constitution of one’s being. Many people’s experience with their earthly father has clouded their relationship with the Heavenly Father. But, even the best of earthly fathers do not compare with the fullness of what God desires in relationship to us as his children.

The old testament rarely expresses God as Father. Jesus changes that, using \”Father\” over 150 times in the gospels. Jesus’s prayer in John 17 gives us a glimpse of the foundational place that love has in relationship to the Father,
“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:24,26). Jesus knew the love of the Father, and that’s what he prays for each of us to experience.

God as Father has adopted us as sons and daughters. If we could only truly believe the fatherly affection he waits to pour out upon us! He may not take away the pain or remove the source of suffering now, but his love is steadfast and will not change.
Let us become like little children, crawling into the strong embrace of our Father!