Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like the great deep. Man and beast you save, O God.
How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! the children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life. In Your light we see the light. (vs 5-9)
Couldn't sleep much last night. A little jet lag, maybe, but my mind was also on a young woman struggling with her father. He loves her, I know, but he is not safe. Anger boils beneath the surface of his every day life and spews too often with words that cut into the hearts of all of his children. He is human. That is the primary problem with all of us who parent. And we are not safe as long as we think ourselves divine and supremely right all the time.
Over and above the crushing issues my young friend has with her father is the certain knowledge that at some point in life we walk out of one family and fully into another, if we are Christians. We leave the hand of our earthly father to take the hand of our heavenly One, for it is He who ultimately is our refuge and our strength. Her opportunity is now, because her daddy is Mount Helena about to erupt all the time when it concerns her maturing into an independent woman. I remember the day the Lord told me that my children were never mine. They had always been His and He had entrusted them to me for a while. If they are going to be kept strong and safe, He is the One ultimately responsible. I don't have that much power.
Handing our children off to our Father should be a joy! Watching them learning to trust the One we love and trust should be the culmination of all we have ever wanted for them! Why? Because He is the constant we can never be! His love is steadfast......immutable...absolutely sure. It is wise and prescient, higher than the clouds. If He scolds us, it is from a point of absolute righteousness and accuracy. Our God and Father never abashes us. Never condemns. Even His discipline is affirmation that He is watching over what we do and think - guided by His everlasting love. Since He knows our hearts, He does not misjudge us. Because He sees us, He knows where He can trust us. Earthly fathers guess at all of this. See us through the filter of their own hearts and past experiences.
As with my own father, sometimes it becomes impossible to run to our daddies for refuge. Home should be the safest place in the world and the arms of our parents an oasis. That is what home is a foretaste of - life as a child of God. Both Father and Mother, for He protects and nurtures like a mother hen and provides from His abundance like the king of his castle. We are supposed to come to His house and put our feet up, feeling truly accepted and delighted in!
Yesterday this young woman I love so much told me that she is trying to find joy in a joyless situation. My heart ached for the disappointment here on earth, but I know she is looking for the fountain of her sufficiency from a higher source. Living water. And her food - manna. The Bread of Life.
Does this sound a little too frilly for you? Not down to earth enough for a person in the throes of grinding loose the umbilical? It shouldn't if you know my Father. Come on home and let Him prepare a great feast for you. He meets you at the door with His arms out, delighting in the warmth of your embrace and the joys of conversation with you. Talking with Him will enlighten your perspective - shed some light on what is going on in your life. Knock on the door. The Light is always on.
How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! the children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life. In Your light we see the light. (vs 5-9)
Couldn't sleep much last night. A little jet lag, maybe, but my mind was also on a young woman struggling with her father. He loves her, I know, but he is not safe. Anger boils beneath the surface of his every day life and spews too often with words that cut into the hearts of all of his children. He is human. That is the primary problem with all of us who parent. And we are not safe as long as we think ourselves divine and supremely right all the time.
Over and above the crushing issues my young friend has with her father is the certain knowledge that at some point in life we walk out of one family and fully into another, if we are Christians. We leave the hand of our earthly father to take the hand of our heavenly One, for it is He who ultimately is our refuge and our strength. Her opportunity is now, because her daddy is Mount Helena about to erupt all the time when it concerns her maturing into an independent woman. I remember the day the Lord told me that my children were never mine. They had always been His and He had entrusted them to me for a while. If they are going to be kept strong and safe, He is the One ultimately responsible. I don't have that much power.
Handing our children off to our Father should be a joy! Watching them learning to trust the One we love and trust should be the culmination of all we have ever wanted for them! Why? Because He is the constant we can never be! His love is steadfast......immutable...absolutely sure. It is wise and prescient, higher than the clouds. If He scolds us, it is from a point of absolute righteousness and accuracy. Our God and Father never abashes us. Never condemns. Even His discipline is affirmation that He is watching over what we do and think - guided by His everlasting love. Since He knows our hearts, He does not misjudge us. Because He sees us, He knows where He can trust us. Earthly fathers guess at all of this. See us through the filter of their own hearts and past experiences.
As with my own father, sometimes it becomes impossible to run to our daddies for refuge. Home should be the safest place in the world and the arms of our parents an oasis. That is what home is a foretaste of - life as a child of God. Both Father and Mother, for He protects and nurtures like a mother hen and provides from His abundance like the king of his castle. We are supposed to come to His house and put our feet up, feeling truly accepted and delighted in!
Yesterday this young woman I love so much told me that she is trying to find joy in a joyless situation. My heart ached for the disappointment here on earth, but I know she is looking for the fountain of her sufficiency from a higher source. Living water. And her food - manna. The Bread of Life.
Does this sound a little too frilly for you? Not down to earth enough for a person in the throes of grinding loose the umbilical? It shouldn't if you know my Father. Come on home and let Him prepare a great feast for you. He meets you at the door with His arms out, delighting in the warmth of your embrace and the joys of conversation with you. Talking with Him will enlighten your perspective - shed some light on what is going on in your life. Knock on the door. The Light is always on.
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