A Father’s Love
by Beverly Caudell
Lent – March 10, Tuesday – Psalms 78:1-39, 78:40-72; Jer. 7:21-34 Rom. 4:13-25 John 7:37-52
After reading Psalms 78: 1-39 what I took away from it was how the people turned their backs on God and refused to live by His law.
As a mother of a soon-to-be teenager, I see a parallel. I am reminded of my father telling me as a willful teenager what he expected from my attitude and my behavior, and in a way, isn’t God our heavenly Father the same way?
In the Psalm, God looked out for His people, led them out of danger, fed them and gave them water and they were dissatisfied and wanted still more…
“Are we having chicken again? I don’t want that, I want to have pizza.” “But these shoes are old, nobody wears that style at school.” These are things I said to my parents as a young teen. I couldn’t see that it was a blessing that we had food on the table at all or that I even had a choice of footwear. My parents sighed and shook their heads a lot, and rightly disciplined me when I disobeyed. As much as I frustrated and challenged them, their love for me never changed or lessened.
Now, as a parent I sigh and shake my head a lot, and discipline too, but like my parents, my love for my child doesn’t change. God, our heavenly Father is the same – we always disappoint Him and do things our “own” way and fight against what He wants for us.
We take for granted what He has given us, yet God’s love for us, His children never wavers, time after time, He is merciful. It took me becoming a parent to learn how much my parents really love me but it took me being a child new in faith to learn how much God really loves me too.
Image by Rolands Lakis (used by permission via Creative Commons).
