Our Father

Though the LORD is great, he cares for the humble.

Psalm 138:6

The God who promises us his protection and his provision is exalted and lofty, yet he loves and cares for us.

He is our Father, yet he is clothed with splendor and majesty and hidden in light. He commands the morning and causes the dawn to know its place. He is great in wisdom and mighty in deed. For him, all the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. The idols tremble at his presence and the hearts of his enemies melt within them. He is worthy of all praise. And he is our Father, who watches over us unceasingly and lavishes his love on us.

My earthly father retired from a career that included being an attorney, a legislator, a circuit judge, and finally a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals. During his retirement festivities, people who had known him in various roles praised him. Some praised him for being a defender and protector, some praised him as a worthy adversary, others said that he was a fair and balanced creator of law, and still others had known him as a wise dispenser of justice and interpreter of law. All the praise was true and justified. But it fell short of the full picture of who my father is. His admirers missed the big picture because he was not their daddy.

Because I know him as “Daddy,” I know someone entirely different. Of course I’ve known him as protector and defender. I’ve known him as a dispenser of justice and a creator of law. But do you see the difference it makes to know him in these roles as my daddy? When these roles are being enacted with personal, directed love as their motivating force, they have a different effect altogether.

Consider who God is. Consider his power, strength, and wisdom. Then realize that all he is and all he does flow out to you from a core of personal, intimate love. He is your Father, but he is also your Daddy.

Father, it is impossible not to trust you when I consider that you are my Daddy.

My Father, supremely good, beauty of all things beautiful.

St. Augustine(354–430), Latin North African theologian and philosopher