Page Two: “Blessed Be the Father …” 06/17/2012
Now, practically speaking, that’s normal. That’s ordinary. It’s natural for a father to have a heart for his own children. But the LORD has a surprising love for those outside His family.
Now there have always been and always will be a lot of people who are without a personal father’s love and care. And God shows us His own Father heart when we read what He says about the ones without natural, earthly fathers.
Here’s a look at the nature of a father. Moses recorded this in his second book. Exodus 22:22 “Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.”
This is a command. This is a word from the One Who has a Father’s heart. He is a Father to the fatherless.
Deuteronomy 24:17 “Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the … fatherless; …” (19) When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, …”
(24:20) “When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.”
(21) When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.”
(26:12) “When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto … fatherless, …”
Psalm 10:14 “… thou art the helper of the fatherless.”
Psalm 82:3 “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.”
Psalm 146:9 “The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: …”
And one more word from the Psalms. Psalm 68:4 “Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. (5) A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.”
When you read these Scriptures, when you let them sink down into your being, do you accept the wonderful truth as to what the LORD is truly like? He’s a Father to the fatherless.
Charles H. Spurgeon, Pastor of the London Tabernacle back in the days of horses and buggies, in the nineteenth century said this about God’s fatherly love for you and me. “Time would fail me, if I were to attempt to read the long roll of the Christian's joyous privileges. I am God's child: if so, he will clothe me; my shoes shall be iron and brass; he will array me with the robe of my Saviour's righteousness, for he has said, "Bring forth the best robe and put it on him," and he has also said that he will put a crown of pure gold upon my head and inasmuch as I am a king's son, I shall have a royal crown. Am I his child? Then he will feed me; my bread shall be given me, and my water shall be sure; he that feeds the ravens will never let his children starve. If a good husbandman feeds the barn-door fowl, and the sheep and the bullocks, certainly his children shall not starve. Does my Father deck the lily, and shall I go naked? Does he feed the fowls of the heaven that sow not, neither do they reap, and shall I feel necessity? God forbid! My Father knoweth what things I have need of before I ask him, and he will give me all I want. If I be his child, then I have a portion in his heart here, and I shall have a portion in his house above.” [Found on www.spurgeon.org].
God is a Father. He’s the Example of a Perfect Father to those of us who are fathers. And if I were an Unbeliever and hadn’t fully understood the work of Christ and the free gift of salvation and knew that this is what God was like, I would surely want to be part of His family.
Notice with me how often the Epistles in the NT tell us that God is a Father.
Now there have always been and always will be a lot of people who are without a personal father’s love and care. And God shows us His own Father heart when we read what He says about the ones without natural, earthly fathers.
Here’s a look at the nature of a father. Moses recorded this in his second book. Exodus 22:22 “Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.”
This is a command. This is a word from the One Who has a Father’s heart. He is a Father to the fatherless.
Deuteronomy 24:17 “Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the … fatherless; …” (19) When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, …”
(24:20) “When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.”
(21) When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.”
(26:12) “When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto … fatherless, …”
Psalm 10:14 “… thou art the helper of the fatherless.”
Psalm 82:3 “Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.”
Psalm 146:9 “The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: …”
And one more word from the Psalms. Psalm 68:4 “Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. (5) A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.”
When you read these Scriptures, when you let them sink down into your being, do you accept the wonderful truth as to what the LORD is truly like? He’s a Father to the fatherless.
Charles H. Spurgeon, Pastor of the London Tabernacle back in the days of horses and buggies, in the nineteenth century said this about God’s fatherly love for you and me. “Time would fail me, if I were to attempt to read the long roll of the Christian's joyous privileges. I am God's child: if so, he will clothe me; my shoes shall be iron and brass; he will array me with the robe of my Saviour's righteousness, for he has said, "Bring forth the best robe and put it on him," and he has also said that he will put a crown of pure gold upon my head and inasmuch as I am a king's son, I shall have a royal crown. Am I his child? Then he will feed me; my bread shall be given me, and my water shall be sure; he that feeds the ravens will never let his children starve. If a good husbandman feeds the barn-door fowl, and the sheep and the bullocks, certainly his children shall not starve. Does my Father deck the lily, and shall I go naked? Does he feed the fowls of the heaven that sow not, neither do they reap, and shall I feel necessity? God forbid! My Father knoweth what things I have need of before I ask him, and he will give me all I want. If I be his child, then I have a portion in his heart here, and I shall have a portion in his house above.” [Found on www.spurgeon.org].
God is a Father. He’s the Example of a Perfect Father to those of us who are fathers. And if I were an Unbeliever and hadn’t fully understood the work of Christ and the free gift of salvation and knew that this is what God was like, I would surely want to be part of His family.
Notice with me how often the Epistles in the NT tell us that God is a Father.