December 17 -- "Father of the Fatherless"

Today’s Reading: Psalms 67 & 68

"Father of the Fatherless"

What an amazing God we serve! Mighty in power and glorious in majesty while at the same time being tender-hearted and compassionate to our needs. Repeatedly in Scripture, Yahweh is described as a Father to the fatherless and a Protector of widows. “He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.” (Deuteronomy 10:18) “The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.” (Psalm 10:14) “You defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.” (Psalm 82:3)

Although Yahweh is “in His holy habitation,” He is not far from any one of us. Of all the ways the Lord God Almighty could have chosen to relate to humanity, He chose the language of family. He could have described Himself as a benevolent dictator, kind boss, or patient landlord. But instead, He chose the word father. He presents Himself as a Father because we all know what a father should be and do. Even if we did not have earthly fathers who treated us well, we have an intrinsic understanding of what a good father should be. God planted that understanding in our hearts. We all have a need to be loved, cherished, protected, provided for, cheered for, and valued. We all long to have a loving father look into our eyes and say, “I’m proud of you, son/daughter.”  Ideally, an earthly father will meet those needs. But even if he doesn’t, God will. Throughout Scripture, God describes His love for us as that of a caring parent.

God has a special place in His heart for the orphans and fatherless (see: Deuteronomy 24:20; Jeremiah 49:11; James 1:27). He loves to adopt new “kids” into His heavenly family. He loves it when His followers on earth heed the call to foster and/or adopt a child who is fatherless. This is a high calling and God will honor those who step out into the unknown and trust Him to bless such a family!

The Lord offers to fill the role of a Father in the lives of all, especially it seems, those with no father.  As a human father would do, so the Lord invites us to call out to Him when we are in trouble (Psalm 50:15), to cast all our worries on Him (1 Peter 5:7), and to enjoy His company (1 Corinthians 1:9: Psalm 116:1; 1 John 5:14).  He models for us the characteristics He had in mind when He designed fatherhood. Although many times earthly fathers do not live up to the ideal, God promises that, in Him, no one has to be without a perfect Father.

God is not aloof from the needs of people. Nor is He a mean old ogre just waiting to inflict pain on humanity. Our God is tender-hearted and compassionate to the needs of all. The world needs to hear about a God like that!