Happy Father’s Day to all the men who are in this role as a parent whether you’ve had children of your own, through adoption or blended family, even mentoring through many programs that target improving the lives of our most valuable resources–our children.

You’ve read many of my articles which have highlighted memories and insight I hold dear to me regarding my own earthly father. I was blessed and fortunate that God gave him to me and wired him to be gentle, loving, kind, faithful to my mother and our family. He possessed a work ethic to be admired and a love of country often reflected by his wanting to sing all the patriotic songs when we were together as a family, especially as age and dementia robbed him in his later years. In fact, as a tribute to him at his funeral, we sang “America the Beautiful” as one of the songs, a favorite of dads. I have nothing but good memories when I think about my dad.

Yet, sitting here this morning to write about Father’s Day, I cannot acknowledge that not everyone has had or is in a healthy relationship with an earthly father. The fallout of a disjointed or broken relationship  often reflects how one views God, making it difficult to refer to Him as “Father”, seeing Him as a good good Father versus one who is always angry or one who seems cold and distant, not interested in a hurting child or adult’s life. Nothing could be further from the truth. And to understand God’s deep affection as a Father we need look no further than the Lord’s Prayer.

In this prayer that Jesus taught to His disciples, He began with two words…”Our Father.” With the help of a teaching from a favorite ministry site–”Walking the Text”*–I unpacked some key takeaways that gave me deeper revelation about this prayer most of us know and which is used in churches worldwide. 

The word “our”–as used here–is communal in meaning, indicating that “we” join God and others when we say “Our Father”. We enter a much bigger story than merely our own. God invites us into His story which involves over 8 billion people around the world.

Furthermore, God is for all people. “Our Father” is family language. It’s intimate. The Jews in Jesus’ days would have understood this language. They had the Old Testament scriptures that established understanding this intimate relationship. In the Book of Exodus we read the account of Moses being sent to Pharoah by God to get His people out of slavery. Moses was instructed to tell Pharoah “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” Later, Matthew recorded the events when Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod’s murder plot against the Christ child. “Out of Egypt I called my son.”  In a passage from Isaiah Jews would have read “but you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us you, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from old is your name.”

So, there’s a lot going on when Jesus instructs us to pray daily the Lord’s Prayer, opening our time with God by addressing Him as “Our Father”. Though we cannot “see” God we need look no further than Jesus in order to comprehend who He is for us. John recorded for us Jesus’ own words: “If you really know Me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”  Later, in Hebrews we read “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word….”

Maybe you have or had a wonderful earthly father like me. Perhaps the opposite is true. But this is what I know…God IS a good good Father and whether you were born into a family of faith, came into relationship with Him late in life, or you’re still questioning His goodness because of deep hurt and preconceived thoughts, He is still for you and not against you. You can be part of His story, too. All it takes is a humble and willing heart to step out of pain or anger, into His circle to hear of His deep abiding love for you as expressed by the psalmist in chapter 2. “I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your father.” (vs. 7)

I love when scriptures connect the dots..from old testament accounts and prophecy…to the very lips of Jesus sitting as He taught His disciples a new way to pray, relying and bringing to their minds  old truths familiar to each one of them.

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*I relied on a teaching on The Lord’s Prayer from the ministry “Walking the Text”. You can find them on YouTube. I highly recommend their team of teachers who bring scripture to life in ways that expose the depth behind contexts too often overlooked or misunderstood.