Several years ago, I was working on a Bible study and a couple of the questions were, “How is your earthly father and your Heavenly Father alike? How are they different?” I sat mulling over the years of a very difficult childhood and concluded that I didn’t have an answer. At least not for the first part of the question. As I pondered and prayed, the Holy Spirit spoke. The revelation I got was that they both love me to the extent that they are able to. That blew me away. That’s how they are alike. It was rough grow ing up, but in my dad’s limited capacity, out of his brokenness, he loved me to the extent that he could. My Heavenly Father also loves me to the extent He can. His capacity for love is unlimited. It is bottomless. It is whole and perfect. His unlimited love for me heals my heart and delivers me from the chains of the past. His love shows me my worth and gives me a hope and a future, regardless of the past. That revelation enabled me to shift my perspective to see that my father’s father loved him to the extent that he could. With a limited and broken capacity. I began to see the generational pattern of fathers who loved to the extent they could. I realized how much they desperately needed the perfect love and grace of their Father God to soothe and heal the wounds of this world’s limited capacity. Fathers are really important. The consequences of fatherlessness in this generation are clear. Poverty, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health issues and the list goes on. Fatherlessness fills our prisons, our hospitals and our unemployment lines. It’s reached epidemic highs and has produced unprecedented lows. The impact of homes with broken fathers is clear, too. I know it well. But as a collective cry rises up to the heavens, our Good Father bends His ear and rescues us from the wreckage. When nothing the world gives can satisfy the thirsty soul, the parched lips will cry out “Abba Father!” The heart posture of a generation in crisis is soil for the seed of revival. It is com ing. Our greatest need becomes our greatest opportunity to experience the greatest love of the Greatest Father. He will show the fatherless what a true Father’s heart is for His children. He will help the broken fathers love with a greater capacity. He will save the scarred and redeem the rejected. Our Good Father is for you. Do you see it? You must look for the good. Hunt for the gold and there you will see your Good Father. He’s coming. He’s here. He’s running to you! Your Rescuer, your Deliverer, your Redeemer. Your Good Father.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20 NIV “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” Psalm 82:3-4 ESV