Trusting my Father

Yesterday a person was unkind toward me, not realizing it or apologizing. At first I felt sad for myself, then sad for that person because she obviously does not know the effect of her actions and often does the same thing to others. She also does not know Jesus, the Giver of wisdom and love.

This incident gave me a greater burden for the lost, for this person in particular but also for others who do the same thing toward people without realizing that their behavior is unloving. Besides, I’ve done the same thing and felt the sting of conviction and the shame of being unkind. This is something that the Holy Spirit can take care of in the right way and the right time. I need to trust God for this.

Today’s devotional talks again about the beauty of a healthy child/father relationship and how it illustrates the relationship of a Christian to our Heavenly Father. However, that comparison is not always the best.

USA statistics say 43% of US children live without their father. 90% of homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. 80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes. Statistics Canada are somewhat better with about 13% of children in fatherless households.

These children can suffer lasting damage such as poverty, dropping out of school, addicted to drugs, having children out of wedlock, or living a life of crime and ending up in prison. Being without a father or having a bad father strongly affects a child and strongly affects a child’s view of God.

My father was always there, and a good person. However, my parents were told I would not live past 16 so they spoiled me by providing most things that I wanted. When I became a Christian, I thought God would be like that. It was an adjustment to realize that He is not. Certainly He wants the best for me, but for a few years I had to learn that His best was not the same as my ideas.

Yet the marvel of God is that He does give all things to His children — all things that are good for us. Trusting Him means this:

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. (1 Corinthians 3:21–23)

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:29)

This isn’t about stuff. It is about being like Jesus, having the fullness of all that He is and bearing the fruit of the Spirit so I am joyful, at peace, contented, and loving Him and others. It means that I can trust Him to take care of my life, reputation, needs, emotions, desires, and ability to deal with whatever comes along. I’ve often called myself ‘God’s spoiled brat’ because His care is so totally undeserved and always a blessing and even a surprise.

He is a good Father. He actually is like my dad but instead of giving me what I want, He changed my wants! I don’t need to worry about physical needs or any other kind of needs. Holding His hand is enough to show me that all my riches are in Christ. He is enough.

PRAY: Jesus, it is good to be overwhelmed with a thankful heart. You supply all I need and the contentment to be satisfied with it. Yes, there are times when I feel left out, ignored, or neglected, but negativity comes from thinking the world’s thoughts, or wanting stuff that my old nature wants, or listening to the devil’s lies. Protecting me from my spiritual enemies and from errors in what I want, is the Father’s job and again, I’m thankful for His care.

Can I trust God to do what He promises?

Deuteronomy 33–34; Psalm 119:145–176; Isaiah 60; Matthew 8

Isaiah tells the people of God that in the future, they will be blessed beyond imagination, that kings and the wealth of nations will come to them. As I read this, I wonder if he is talking about the thousand year reign of Christ in Revelation known as the Millennium or if he is referring to the church because the New Testament speaks of Christians being Abrahams offspring: “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:29)

While this was not a promise given directly to Abraham, it was given to his heirs. I’m not sure why some theologians consider the church is separate from Old Testament believers. To make this distinction would make the OT totally irrelevant with no point in reading it. However both OT and NT speak of a true Israel meaning all who remained faithful to God during those eras in the Bible. Romans 9:6 says that “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” a statement something like “not everyone born to Christian parents is a Christian” or “not everyone who goes to church is a true believer.” This means God defines His people by their faith, not by anything else and no matter when they lived.

This helps me consider that what God says about true believers in the OT can also apply to true believers in the NT and even today. Here is the passage:

Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age. You shall suck the milk of nations; you shall nurse at the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it. (Isaiah 60:15–22)

Certainly, this describes a time that has not yet happened. Some might say it is ‘pie in the sky’ and not practical, just a hope that Pollyanna types hang on to so they can get through the tough spots, even the “forsaken and hated” trials of life. Others might say this refers to heaven because some of the words are like the descriptions of glory in Revelation.

For me, it seems a mixture of both a future on earth and the eternal life God promises me. And it does help me with the tough spots. These days, I am deeply burdened by the lack of faith, even the lack of interest in spiritual things in the lives of so many people. God is seldom mentioned by the media and the name of Jesus Christ is used in profanity far more than in worship. The church is mocked. Israel is hated. God is considered dead.

Yet He promised that if I believe in Jesus Christ, my life will change. It has. No other explanation but that God has kept His promise. If that one, why not the promises made in this passage? He is mysterious, but I cannot say He is fickle.

APPLY: Rest in Him. Rest in His promises. Don’t be anxious when theologians argue about their relevancy. Trusting Jesus is not about what human minds can figure out about the past or the future. It is about hanging on to the hand of Jesus in the dark and in the light, knowing that this One who changed my life can do whatever He says He will do with the rest of it and with His world that He created.

All of the Bible is important for me . . .

Far too many Christians dismiss the Old Testament because they think it is about ancient Israel and has no application for the modern world or the church. However, this is not the way it was understood by the writers of the New Testament. Paul was an Israelite and the OT was the only Scripture he had at the time he wrote letters to the churches (which later became the NT). In one of those, He said this of our relationship to God . . .

“I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” (Romans 9:1–8)

This and other passages proclaim that Christians are the children of God in the same way as His OT people; by faith like the faith of Abraham, all are saved. What does that mean in a practical sense? It means that the promises made to the OT believers are also promises that I can believe in for myself and claim as the Word of God to me.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9–10)

“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:29)

^^^^^^^^

Jesus, because I belong to You (by grace I am saved through faith), then I am a child of Abraham, an heir of all the promises made to him and to all Your OT people. This is mercy, yet it is also marvelous and grand. I’ve known this truth for a long time, yet am overwhelmed at times by the width and breadth of it. Even the size of the OT alone is indication of all that You offer to me because I am a child of Abraham, a child of God. Thank You for including me in the most blessed family on earth, Your family. Thank You also for teaching me why I should read and enjoy all of the Scriptures, not just part of what You say and promise to me.