The Making of a Father

June 18, 2014

A father’s job is hard to do. Look through the Bible and try to find a father who fulfilled it perfectly. They’ve got to protect, provide, teach and train.

 

God chose the father of His nation. He didn’t stack up too well in the father mode.

He lied about his wife, telling a ruler that she was his sister not once, but twice. (Talk about protecting.)

He caused major divisions in his family by starting it before God directed. (Well, he listened to his wife, a good thing, but doubted God, a bad thing.) So he ended with a family feud that continues today. Ishmael leads the feud against Isaac.

Abraham, the father of the Jewish Nation, showed some major flaws. He was called by God “the Friend of God.” He wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t even close. But God was his friend. And God called him to do great things for Him, in spite of his flaws---or maybe because of his Friend.

 

What about another father? He was called the “Man after God’s own heart.” 

His family was a wreck. He had one wife who didn’t approve of how he worshipped God. (Michal criticized him about how he brought the ark home.) She remained barren.

He gained one of his wives by her husband’s heart attack. Her husband didn’t want to feed David’s army of 500 men. His wife undermined his decision and fed them secretively. When her husband died, David married her. Had she learned to submit to authority? It doesn’t say.

He acquired another wife by staying behind during battle and loitering on his rooftop. Watching her bathe, he didn’t stop with temptation. He sinned. To cover his sin, he killed his valiant and loyal soldier, the husband of the woman he took. This sin brought judgment: death to his baby.

When family turmoil broke out, he catered to a rebellious son rather than judge sin. This brought the family to take justice into their own hands. Resentment, hatred and disobedience followed--affecting his entire kingdom and resulting in an uprising. He sacrificed his kingdom for his wayward son.

This man, David, the ‘man after God’s own heart,’ gives hope to me. When I know that I’m not the parent that I should be, when I fail so many times and wonder how God can help this mess…He gives hope that those failures can be used by Him.

 

A father’s job is hard. I read in the Bible how God used ordinary people to fulfill the impossible roles that He gives. 

I lean on the father of my sons and know that he will remain standing.

I ask and he provides abundantly more than I even wanted.

He is the father to our sons.

He is the protector that keeps the floodgates of wrong and deceit from our home.

He is the provider for what we need.

He teaches us God’s ways and directs our faith to Him.

He trains us not to deviate to the right or the left.

He is a man, so he is not perfect. I see God using Abraham and David in spite of their faults. I know God is using my man to direct his family toward God.

I cannot doubt that my man will also do great things. Nor will I wonder when our sons follow in his steps and see the God Whom he has shown them by his life, example and his role as father. My sons know the Heavenly Father so much better because of the father He has given to them.

For that I give thanks to him and to God.

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Tell of My Kingdom's Glory
Three Book Series