Friday, October 4, 2013
Psalm 103:19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.
TESTED OR TEMPTED? TRUST YOUR FATHER'S LOVE!
Father's Day has come and gone a while back now. If you were able, did you take your Dad out to dinner? Did you give him a card or talk to him on the phone? Fathers are intended to be blessings from God. They are to be His representatives in protecting, caring for, and leading the family. They are to bring up their children "in the training and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). It is God-pleasing, therefore, to honor them for the role they have been given. One quality of fathers which impressed me in my early years was strength. Friends and I would regularly tease one another saying: "My dad is so strong that he can ..." We focused more on their strength and overlooked our fathers' love. In our youth we didn't grasp that strength exercised without love harms rather than helps.
That's especially true with our Heavenly Father, isn't it? No one is stronger, just as our verse for today says, "The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all" (Psalm 103:19). Yet if He simply acted on the basis of strength, we would be terrified of Him, for He can destroy us eternally and would have just cause to do so because of our sin.
However, what Scripture emphasizes, perhaps even more so than His almighty power, is the heavenly Father's immense love. "As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him" (Psalm 103:13). His love for us moved Him to sacrifice His Son on the cross that we might receive forgiveness and everlasting life through faith. There is no greater love. His love is the source of our love. "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).
