Less-than-perfect Father

Less-Than-Perfect Father

Lot’s Daughters

Read: Genesis 19:6-8, 30-38

“You were always there for me, Dad!” Sierra shoved that card back in the rack. “How can I thank you for all the things you taught me as a child?” Not quite right, either. She grimaced. Where’s a card that won’t make me feel like a hypocrite? Something like “You were always too busy with your career to come to my recitals and school plays so I don’t really have childhood memories of fun times with you and now we feel so distant from each other that conversation is mostly about the weather or the news, but Happy Father’s Day, anyway.”

No father is perfect. The Bible describes Lot as a righteous man (see 2 Peter 2:7-8), but he failed his daughters in a way that caused much misery and degradation. When men from Sodom demanded sex with the two men who were Lot’s guests, he offered them his virgin daughters instead. Lot placed greater importance on his role as host than on his role as father and protector.

It’s hard to imagine how the girls felt about being offered to a mob for sexual pleasure, and by their own father. We do know that they had no respect for themselves or for Lot. The girls later tricked their drunken father into having sex with them. They placed greater importance on continuing the family line than on basic laws of morality. Their sons became the ancestors of two of Israel’s bitterest enemies.

We have all felt let down in some way by our parents, whether by minor disappointments or the deep wounds of neglect or abuse. It helps to remember that while our earthly fathers are human and prone to mistakes, our heavenly Father is perfect, and his love will never let us down. He is also ready to help us forgive all the hurts that have been done to us. In cases like Sierra’s, he can help us rebuild that father-daughter relationship so that buying a Father’s Day card is easier.

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!

1 John 3:1