KNOWING YOUR FATHER THROUGH THE BIBLE
This week, from The DAWGHOUSE looks at how our Good, Good Father makes Himself known to us, His sons through the Bible.
When a son doesn’t really know his father, he can’t really know himself. A father who is unhidden—who shares who he is with his son without holding back anything—is able to help his son find his own point of reference and identity in a chaotic world. A father differentiates his son from the crowd, focuses him, reinforces the point that his son is unique, and points to the trails in life that are consistent with their family.
If you had an earthly father who opened his life and heart to you, you know your father’s story. That’s a wonderful gift. But to really know ourselves, we have to go further than our earthly fathers. We have to know the Father—the one who made us and knows us intimately. We have to know him. All that our own earthly fathers can do only imperfectly if at all, our heavenly Father does perfectly.
The good news is that our heavenly Father wants to be known. He wants his sons to know all about him because he is not hidden. He is a totally committed “all-in” Father who wants you to know him and his love for you.
KNOWING YOUR FATHER THROUGH THE BIBLE
Even though we can learn much about God through what he has made, God hasn’t finished revealing himself. The heavens declare the glory of God, and yet he still speaks to us through his words. He gives us the Bible because he intentionally desires to become a Father and to have a relationship with his children. He tells us all about himself and ourselves from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible is the self-revelation of a Father who really wants to be known. He doesn’t want us to misunderstand who he is. He specially selected people who would faithfully record his words, thoughts, actions, promises, and desires for his people. As we read the Bible, we learn that our Father’s power knows no limits. He creates something out of nothing. He raises the dead to life. What he decides to do, he is able to do. That’s omnipotence. You have an all-powerful Father who is all-in with his sons and daughters as well as everything else he has created. What he creates by his grace, he has the power to sustain by his grace.
We are also reminded that God knows everything about everything. That’s omniscience. He knows all about you. You are unhidden to him. He knows you better than you know yourself. Knowing all there is to know about you, he’s still wild about you! God tells us in the Bible that he knows when we sit, when we rise, what we are thinking at all times, and what we are going to say even before it comes out of our mouths. In fact, every day has already been planned for us by our loving heavenly Father (Psalm 139:1–4, 16). Your heavenly Father is not only all-powerful and all-knowing, he is omnipresent. God is everywhere at all times (Psalm 139). The Father is able to keep up with us all simultaneously and still give each of us his full attention. Did you ever meet someone who gave you one hundred percent of their attention? You feel like the most important person in the world when you are with them. That’s the way it always is with you and God. He is listening. He will always listen.
Be Bold in Knowing our Father,
Pete
