Father forever

As a father has compassion on his children,

    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

 

for he knows how we are formed,

    he remembers that we are dust.

 

The life of mortals is like grass,

    they flourish like a flower of the field;

 

the wind blows over it and it is gone,

    and its place remembers it no more.

 

But from everlasting to everlasting

    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,

    and his righteousness with their children’s children

 

with those who keep his covenant

    and remember to obey his precepts.

Psalm 103

If you know God at all you may know him as savior, creator, Lord, Spirit or a hundred other adjectives, but the one that has my attention this morning is from the words of a pastor I listen to often.  As I heard him this morning he spoke of the nature of God as father, but not just a father for a lifetime as we experience, but father forever.  

The governing emotion for a good father is love. It's the emotions we give to a father who is good...that he loves his children...and in this passage I've quoted love is at the very heart of what God does and why he does it.  The two words used here are love and compassion.  It's the driving force for all God does!

In the culture around me I see a world that views God as judge, not as loving father.  That's fascinating to me...how could those who know him see him as a loving father, but those who don't only see him as judge?  How could our views of God and responses to him be so different? One sees him as loving father and runs to him.  The other sees him as a harsh judge and runs away.

It is clear the view changes when you come to know God as savior.  Suddenly the idea of God as judge changes.  It changes when we discover that he did judge.  He judged all of the deeds of everyone when he judged his own son on the cross and from that day to this he is available as loving father to anyone who will trust him.

But if you refuse his adoption, his desire to extend his love to you, then judge is all you know about him.  For those who have rejected him they will never know him as father forever. What a sad thing to write....they will never know him as he really is because they rejected his love.  All they could see was a judge.  They missed his heart, his love completely.

I can't imagine God in any other light than a loving father for that is how he deals with me. And he will be that loving father to anyone who will trust him forever.  For that bit of illumination I'm rejoicing today....because I have a loving father forever!