This week we finish the chapter on God as the affectionate and approachable Father. The author writes about the Father’s embrace by using the story of what we commonly call the “prodigal son.” He says that this story is really about the heart of the father and his response to his lost son. It really is an amazing story of this father when you realize that in Jewish culture, for a son to demand his inheritance before the father has died was to wish the father were dead; likewise, it was unusual for a father to run like this one did upon seeing his son at a distance.
Hill makes an interesting observation: “…the prodigal had hit bottom. Yes, he was desperate. But he could have stayed where he was…What gave the prodigal the courage to return home? I believe that during his childhood the prodigal saw something in his father that let him know he would not be rejected if he returned home…he had a realistic understanding of who his father was. It empowered him to return home and be restored.”
Hill goes on to make his point, which is so important: “For you to fully enjoy the Father, you need to have a deep understanding of His personality. If you’re continually afraid of being rejected by Him and you feel that He’s perpetually angry with you because of things you’ve done, how can you open your heart to Him? How can you freely give yourself to Him and obey Him?”
This is a fundamental reality – that to enjoy God we must know what He is truly like, and part of His nature is His affectionate heart and His joy over His children. When we begin to taste and see a bit of what He is like and how He feels about us, then we will find that the lesser loves and addictions begin to lose their hold on us as we believe His Word and Spirit and walk in obedience to that. “The only thing that will ultimately break the power of lust in your life is a revelation of the Father’s love.”
Speaking of the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son, the author says that because he was performance-driven, he couldn’t understand the response his father gave his younger delinquent brother. As I have mentioned a couple of times before, I am finding that my flesh is offended with the radical love of God, as was this elder brother. There have been times when I have allowed myself to ponder and meditate on the reality that God enjoys Nita Steiner that I have rejected that thought. I’m more and more accepting this, and it’s liberating me deep within from many fears.
Two reasons given in the book as to why we humans struggle with the unconditional love of God:
- Incomplete teaching about the nature of God, resulting in seeing Him as primarily a severe Judge without clear understanding of His goodness and affection for us.
- Our own awareness of our failures, so we attempt to overcome guilt by showing Him how genuinely sorry we are.
The Approachable FatherGod is not like the authoritarian father that is looking for perfection and pounces on anything short of that, always reminding the child of his failure or lack and thinking that will motivate him to do better.
I love this line by the author: “God is different than any authority figure you have ever known.” This is an important revelation to have since we all reflect onto God’s leadership what we have experienced from human authorities. Even the very best fathers and other authority figures taint our view of God since none are perfect.
“God is not an authoritarian Father. He doesn’t want you shrinking back in fear or apprehension of Him. He’s an approachable Father who loves you passionately…In ‘God in Search of Man,’ Abraham Heschel explains that the phrase ‘fear of God’ is derived from the Hebrew word ‘yirah.’ (Heschel) writes: ‘The word has two meanings – fear and awe. There is the man who fears the Lord lest he be punished in his body, family, or in his possessions. Another man fears the Lord because he is afraid of punishment in the life to come. Both types are considered inferior in Jewish tradition. Fear is the anticipation of evil or pain…Awe, on the other hand, is the sense of wonder and humility inspired by the sublime or felt in the presence of mystery…Awe, unlike fear, does not make us shrink from the awe-inspiring object, but on the contrary, draws us near to it. This is why awe is compatible with both love and joy.’”
Essentially the fear of the Lord is not something that makes us cower before Him in fear of punishment but is deep love for Him in His awesomeness that causes me to hate what He hates; anything that separates me from His love is to be feared and hated.
Even in His discipline of us, God doesn’t stop enjoying us as His children. In fact, His discipline and correction is because He loves us. Just like a good earthly father must discipline his child at times for his own welfare but never stops loving and accepting him, so the Father in heaven can separate me as a person from the behavior in my life that don’t align with Him. He doesn’t reject me as a person while correcting my behavior. “The Father’s correction is deeply rooted in His affection for us. Proverbs 3:11,12 admonishes us to ‘not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.’”
Immaturity is not the same as rebellion even though it may appear the same in a person’s behavior. God has no problem with our being immature (when do we ever know when we’re “mature”?). He will not tolerate rebellion but immaturity is another thing. He deals with us according our heart of sincerity and repentance, so “as we set our hearts on obeying Him, He will make loving adjustments in our lives until we come to maturity.”
Jesus’ dealing with Peter exemplifies how God feels and deals with immaturity. Peter’s failure of the Lord left him full of shame, and Jesus restored him to confidence through love (John 21). He knew Peter genuinely loved Him in spite of his weakness and failure, and Jesus’ leading him to confess his love to Jesus broke the power of shame over Peter.
In conclusion of this chapter, the author says, “Once you begin to understand the depths of God’s love for you and the nature of His heart, then you’ll be able to be transparent with Him. Intimacy requires communication, vulnerability, and honesty…Like Peter, you may still be carrying the shame of your past failures and may be having a hard time forgiving yourself. You may have even become accustomed to a second-class relationship with the Lord because you’re afraid you might fail again…You can trust the Father. He fully understands…” And knowing all, He loves you and me radically to the point of death!
Rejoice in such extravagance this week! For next week, read the first part (up to page 105) of chapter 7, Love-Empowered Holiness.
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Like Nita indicated up front…this is going to take a bit to digest and I don’t mean digested in the natural way, but the supernatural way. It needs to get into the cells that produce life and multiplies. Might I add, “quickly.”
ReplyDeleteNotes? Oh, yes, I have notes on the chapters…but this goes beyond “notes” as we all realize. What can be said except to allow the Lord to do this deep work in our (my) life. It reminds me of the book title, The Knowledge of the Holy by A W Tozer. It seems that to have this intimate relationship with God is that very thing…intimately knowing the Holy, or knowing the Holy One. It is the hope we have.
Where am I in all this? Well, I must quote the author mainly because I don’t have the words: …immaturity is not the same thing as rebellion…”. “Although He sees the undeveloped areas of our character, He also hears the willing cry of our spirits.”
“Once you begin to understand the depth of God’s love for you and the nature of His heart, then you’ll be able to be transparent with Him. Intimacy requires communication, vulnerability, and honesty.”
Don’t you think that this is an ongoing process of the work the Lord is doing in us? Can we always say we communicate adequately, or that we are vulnerable, or even that we are always totally honest with where we are at? I guess that is why I would cling to the comment above that “Although He sees the undeveloped areas of our character, He also hears the willing cry of our spirits.” This, of course, is a reason to walk in love and understanding regarding another’s walk in the Lord. He is working in us all in this area of our undeveloped character. How can we help one another in this development? Let us consider that.
Our growing into the stature of Christ is such a desirable maturing and so often is imperceptible; the developing process into knowing His heart for us is beyond description; and the desire to be experiencing the immediate intimacy with the Lord is a cry of the heart…this is very difficult to describe…actually, it may not be able to be described. Who can describe the heart adequately? Not I…that is for certain. Actually, Scriptures have many adjectives describing the heart. It would make a good study.
I like the thought that there is an “awe” regarding this more intimate walk, not fear. And this “‘Awe’ does not make us shrink from the awe-inspiring object…but draws us near to it.” Oh, to be continually drawn to this personal awe-inspiring “OBJECT”, or perhaps I would prefer to call it an awe-inspiring Person. Let’s allow ourselves to be drawn to Him and help one another in this so personal a walk. I think this could also be called being “knit together.”