Psalm 89:26

Psalm 89:26 He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’(NKJV)

Fathers… Some are good, some are bad, and most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We are constantly caught in the pendulum of strict/lenient, loving/cruel, gentle/hard. It is one of my greatest struggles to find the balance required to be a ‘good’ dad and not drive my children away from God (see Ephesians 6:4).

But there is hope. We have a heavenly Father who is our perfect example to look to. Jesus continually pointed us in the Father’s direction. He referred to the first person in the Godhead as “Father” approximately 200 times in the N.T. Here’s just a few:

When separated from His parents as a child “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49)
When teaching us to pray “Our Father in Heaven” (Matthew 6:9)
When cleansing the temple “Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise” (John 2:16)
And many, many more…

Jesus taught us during His ministry that we are to be completely dependant upon God the Father for everything in our lives (see Matthew 6:24-24). He also taught us to be obedient to the will of the Father even if it causes us pain (see Matthew 26:36-46). He modeled these things for us so the we too could learn to trust in God for everything in our lives.

“My God, and the rock of my salvation” the psalmist says. No greater example can be given to us of trust in the Father than Jesus example on the cross. Before He was taken He reminded the disciples He simply had to pray to His Father and angels would come to His side (Matthew 26:53). On the cross He asks His Father to forgive His torturers (Luke 23:34). He displays ultimate trust in the Father before His death on the cross (See Mark 15:34, Luke 23:46). One thing you can be sure of after even a quick read of the gospels. God the Son completely trusted God the Father!!!

Oh Fathers – if we could catch some of that as we lead our children! I am a firm believer that if we will trust completely in our Father as our rock and our salvation than we will be the fathers that we have been called to be. We have a new Spirit within us by which we refer to God as “Abba” or to put it in the vernacular “Daddy” (Romans 8:15). We have the Holy Spirit within us to guide our every decision, let us call upon Him and use His example as we lead our children.

When our children need to be disciplined let us remember that our Father always tempers His discipline with mercy. When our children need forgiveness let us use the Father’s example and forgive and forget (1 John 1:9). When our children need to be loved let us remember that our Father demonstrates His love to us at every moment in our lives. When our children need to be taught the things of God let us remember that it is only God that can write His word upon their hearts.

Most importantly let us teach our children that God is our rock - He never fails us. Let us teach our children that God is our salvation – without Him we are doomed. Let us not teach it with simply words but by living it out in our lives!

Grace and mercy from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ to all of us dads out there. My prayer is that we lead our families as God has commanded us to do…