Abba Father

In writing this blog, I thought a lot of my childhood. I was reminded that it’s human nature to associate the roles our earthly fathers played to sort of a man-made God realm. In trying to grasp concepts of God that our minds cannot really fathom, we associate irreconcilable things to realities that we can grasp, like the fathers of our youth.

It is challenging to marry the idea of someone as vast as the Creator of the universe to the role of Abba Father.

It’s quite difficult to read scriptures like, “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool,” and also trust that He not only knows, but cares to know the exact number of hairs on my head.

There is a Nichole Nordeman song that beautifully depicts the struggle of the enormity of God to my need of assurance in the simplicities of life through His innate nature. It is worth the listen.

When I was a little girl, friends and foe feared my dad. When neighborhood bullying took place, I’d run up our concrete steps pretending to tattle, when in all actuality I was talking to a closed front door. The neighboring children would run in fear. Their perception of my dad tricked their common sense. Ironically, my dad was not really a scary man but he was a quiet man and people tend to fear what they do not know. It can be hard to know a quiet man. This is part of my God/Father struggle and I think this may be part of the struggle of many. How do we see God through our faulty human lens in the view of our earthly father experiences? For example, we may think God is quiet when in reality our ears are unwilling to hear. We may think we speak to a closed door when the door is quite open. That is good news! The door is wide open and the pathway to hearing ears comes through a seeking relationship. There is always a ‘knowing’ in relationship and what a treasure it is to know and be known, particularly by the God of the universe!

Seven times in the Greek Scriptures, and only from the lips of the Lord Jesus, there occurs the expression “If any man has ears to hear, let him hear!” The word hear is mentioned three hundred and forty-seven times in the Bible. We think He does not speak when in reality we struggle to hear. We are not attuned to listen. We are unpracticed when it comes to silence.

The world is full of noise and we are apt to lose confidence of our Shepherd’s voice when we submit to its chaos.

Priscilla Shirer shares in Hearing God’s Voice, “What His sheep do is hear His voice.” I love that because we are prone to so much doing, not hearing. In reality, our most natural doing is more likely in the knowing. We must trust that He speaks and that simply by being children of God, made in His likeness, we have the ability to hear Him. It goes far beyond our ability, quite possibly just into a realm of our willingness. We must desire to know Him, to hear Him. When we seek Him with all of our heart, we find Him. He promises that (Jeremiah 29:13).

It is my hope, my prayer, this Christmas season that as we remember the vastness of who God is, we also remember Love came down. May we never forget that love came, but that it came at such a high cost.

• A God willing to give His own flesh and blood so that many may live is a God of love.
• A son willing to give His life as a ransom for many so that many may live is a son of hope.
• A spirit that dwells within willing and able vessels, to embody the faithfulness of the triune God is a Holy, Holy Spirit.

All of these gifts of who God is are ready to be torn wide open, and yet we do not seek to find Him. As we engage in the season of advent until we behold the Newborn King this coming Christmas Day, may we truly prepare our hearts for the gift of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. May we find peace in the sacred space, trusting the voice of our good, good Shepherd making his entrance in that lowly manger bed.

Behold the glory of your New-born King!