We are told that God is a father like no other. He is the father. We are invited to come into his house, kick up our feet and relax like we would when we feel truly at home. We are promised all of the furnishings of this household- protection, comfort, inheritance, guidance, wisdom, tenderness.
I believe he is like this.
I believe I can have this.
I believe the promises of God are for me.
For me, and I think many of us, this belief requires an extra measure of faith. It takes every ounce of trust and imagination to envision God being like this. It feels like we are reaching so hard that we are stretching and tearing in the effort to take hold of this promise.
Seeing God as the perfect father is not a matter of elaborating on what I experienced as a child. It’s not even an exercise in building upon an understanding of any parent who wants nothing but good for you.
It feels more like sitting in darkness and trying to create light. And trying to do that while very much not being God.
The devil knows how to get in the way of understanding who God is.
Contort the vision of a father.
Make the idea of a mother cryptic.
Make parents the ones you fear. Make them the ones who cut you down, tell you you don’t matter and then act like it’s true.
Convince you that you aren’t worth saving.
And a father doesn’t save, anyway.
Should you find yourself at the feet of the perfect father, where you are finally loved, finally safe- you pull back. It’s not even doubt- you just can’t see it. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s not what you know.
How big is your faith?
Can it be so big, so bold, so inspired that the vision, the agency and the motivation to run into the arms of this father overtakes you?
I know that God’s arms are open to me.
I am reaching out from the darkness, fully stretched, feeling like I’m about to tear.
From within the darkness, a small hard seed breaks itself in two. It reaches up, not knowing why, but certain that it must.
And suddenly it is enveloped by the miracle of light, warmth and nourishment. Finally, it discovers that it has everything it needs.
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