Enjoying God - Week #5

Chapter Five (first half): The Affectionate and Approachable Father

I remember so well what a preacher said a few years ago: “The worst case scenario is to be a Christian and not be able to enjoy God!” I’m discovering more all the time that God, like A.W. Tozer says of Him, “is easy to live with” and I’ll add that He’s enjoyable to be with.

And the reason I find Him increasingly enjoyable to be with is that I’m grasping a tiny bit of the reality that He enjoys me! I’ve studied the nature and character of God all my life, both in formal studies but also in my own personal study and mostly through walking intimately with Him, and that has fed and nourished me for years. But until I began to look more deliberately at the emotional part of His makeup, my relating to Him was without full confidence and joy. Not that I didn’t love Him nor even that I didn’t experience Him in all my being – heart, soul, mind, strength – but I lacked the abandonment to love that comes with seeing His jealous love for me, His weak child.

Consequently, I was still caught in the people-pleasing (fear of man) trap. What has lifted me out of that horrible pit has been the revelation of His love and enjoyment of me. It has also given me the courage to act in obedience to His voice of correction and conviction. This revelation hasn’t come in one fell swoop but over time as I have chosen to practice His presence and listen to His affirmation of me.

This chapter, in contrast with the previous one which spoke of broken human fathers, is about our heavenly Father and His affections and approachableness.

Romans 8:14-16: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

In relation to this passage, I’ll quote the author:
“The word ‘abba’ is equivalent to the word ‘papa’ and carries with it the idea of intimacy, dependency, and vulnerability. The concept of God as ‘abba’ was a revolutionary one at the time Paul wrote this.
“Drawing on his experience with Greco-Roman law, Paul used the analogy of adoption to describe the Christian’s relationship and position with God. The legal status of a son in early Roman times was not much better than that of a slave. A son was the property of his father. A father was entitled to his son’s wages. A father could transfer ownership of his son at will and, under certain circumstances, even have him put to death.
“In contrast, the legal status of an adopted son actually put him in a more secure place than that of a son born into the family. He was no longer legally bound to old debts, andif he was a slave, he was set free the moment he was adopted. He had complete access to the father of the family and was guaranteed a position in the family as well.”

The book includes an interesting quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones who emphasizes the experiential nature of the above Scripture from Romans 18:
“What the apostle Paul is emphasizing here is that not only must we believe this doctrine and accept it with our minds, but we must also be conscious of it and feel it; there must be the Spirit of Adoption in us as a result of this work of the Holy Spirit…Paul is really telling us that we are to feel – and I am emphasizing feeling – in this sense, what our Lord Himself felt.”

S.J. Hill encourages us to believe and receive the truth that like a child “you can crawl up into ‘Abba’s lap’ and experience the warmth and security of His loving embrace. You can know the pleasure of His heart as you allow your emotions to be bathed in the revelation of His love for you.”

Hill then speaks of the affectionate Father, giving the testimonies of men such as Charles Finney and Dwight L. Moody who experienced wonderful encounters with the affections of God. Then he gives a graphic description of the sufferings of Jesus on the cross (taken from an article by C.Truman Davis). Looking at the indescribable suffering of the Lord in His crucifixion speaks loudly and dramatically of the Father’s passion for a Bride for His Son.

We wonder and marvel at stories we hear about someone taking great risks to save the life of another person; and the reality is that we all have this story – a Man has died for me! Only ravished and jealous love will do such a thing, and Jesus has done it for all of us who are in Him and part of His Bride. (See Song of Songs 8:6.)

Just this week a young man was sharing with me the bit of revelation he’s beginning to have about God’s emotions and how that is revolutionizing his view of God and of himself. He’s been spending time in the book of Hosea, meditating on the fiery jealousy of God for His people and how emotional God is about us; our God is not a passive God at a distance but fights to win our affections and to deliver us from lesser loves.

I have been strengthened and healed by studying and believing the emotions that God has towards me. The Gospel is an unbelievable reality!! The longer I live, the more I realize how radical the Gospel of Jesus Christ is; worship and the offering of my life to Him is the natural overflow of this.

The Father looks at you with affection; you are His beloved and adopted child…May the grace of the Spirit rest upon us this week to believe and receive what His Word says about His feelings toward us. Blessings on your week in Him!

For next week, let’s finish chapter five on the affectionate and approachable Father. (Please see my note from last week's posting about when we will begin the next book...)