A Willing and Able Father
“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven,” (Matthew 6:9)
God is not simply a super human; God is spirit. God is something other than us. He surpasses even our own understanding and vocabulary. We cannot define God in the same way that we define a flower; therefore, God accommodates Himself to us through the use of an analogy. What analogy does Jesus give us in prayer? “Our Father in heaven.” God is not like our father; rather, we are dim reflections of our heavenly Father – as dim as fireflies before the face of the sun. As far as the heavens are above the earth, so is our heavenly Father above our earthly fathers. We need to hear this. For many of us, the word “father” elicits painful memories. The two fathers are not equal.
Our Father in heaven is a willing Father. In Hosea 11, the more God called Israel, His son, the more they went away. God taught them to walk, led them with cords of love, bent down from heaven to feed them, yet they were bent on turning from Him. Many earthly fathers would and have cut their wayward children off and severed that bond of filial affection, but not God. Instead, God declares, “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my burning anger; for I am God and not a man.” (Hos. 11:8-9) If our fathers, who are evil, give good gifts, will not our heavenly Father do give much more to those who ask? He has given to us heaven’s greatest gift – Jesus Christ. The value of Jesus exceeds all the riches of a thousand worlds, so will our heavenly Father withhold from us any good thing? Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from our Father in heaven. Where our love has limits, our Father’s love is limitless; where our will is finite, our Father’s willingness is infinite.
A couple adopted a baby from Kenya, and the baby never cried. In the orphanage, the baby realized that no one cared enough to answer when he cried. The baby was never loved, so the baby never cried. It wasn’t until he was put in the arms of a loving family that he learned to cry again. It wasn’t that he learned how to cry, but he learned how to be loved. In the same way, until we realize the limitless love, the infinite willingness of our heavenly Father, we will not cry out to Him in prayer. As Calvin says, “Never will the hearts of men be led in good earnest to call upon God until a persuasion of the truth of his goodness is deeply fixed in their minds.” Whether in plenty or hunger, abundance or need, our Father in heaven is willing to listen to us, to care for us.
The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) states it best: “That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who of nothing made heaven and earth with all that in them is, who likewise upholds and governs the same by His eternal counsel and providence, is for the sake of Christ, His Son, my God and my Father, in whom I so trust, as to have no doubt that He will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul; and further, that whatever evil He sends upon me in this vale of tears, He will turn to my good; for He is able to do it, being almighty God, and willing also, being a faithful Father.”
