I was recently sitting and talking with my youngest daughter who, to my joy, lives nearby with her family. Her husband had taken the two oldest sons hunting for pronghorn antelope, leaving their 5 year-old daughter, Annie, and baby brother home with Mom. Annie, who was half-listening to our conversation, piped up and said: “Daddy will bring me something when he comes home from his trip tomorrow.” Now, her Daddy does dote on her and occasionally brings her special girl things. My daughter told her that because they were camping out in the forest, that wouldn’t be possible. Her assured reply? “Oh, that’s ok, he can shoot a wild rabbit and bring it to me.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be that confident that our heavenly Father loves to give us good things? If we realized that what we first expected wasn’t on the agenda, we could just adjust to heaven and know He will come through because He always has us in mind. When we know He is a good, good father we don’t have to demand a certain outcome but rest in his heart toward us.
Annie knew her Dad wouldn’t come home anticipating a weekend bad behavior report. She expected him to scoop her up in delight and have something to surprise her. (Alas snow and fog rolled in and no game was bagged.) The Psalmist assured us: “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk with integrity” (84:11b). Sometimes in God’s wisdom we may wait, but he does not withhold from us. He may be working something out for us and in us and others, bringing us into maturity, but we must not mistake that for God’s withholding. We must refuse that condemning voice of the enemy who will malign God, setting us up so that doubt, disappointment and bitterness seep in. His answer may be in reserve, but he does not refuse and keep back anything that is good. He didn’t spare even his own Son. Why wouldn’t He freely give us all things? He is the “Lord of us all, abounding in riches for all who call upon him” (Rom 10:12; 8:32).
His love doesn’t come and go, isn’t fickle or based in our performance. His love is permanent and stretches back over our past and covers our future. Our old false images of God need to fade so that the true God can be seen as He is…the One we can fully trust. The more we see Him and know Him as He is, the more we are transformed. May we know who He really is – a good, good Father whose heart is for us!
By the way, we were all at the playground Saturday and the last thing I heard her say to her Dad as he was taking her to the van was: “Dad can we stop at the store on the way home?”
