Our Father, In Heaven – He Will Not Forsake Me

We have two fathers, our earthly father and our heavenly Father. Where both have a vital role in our lives, only one of them will not forsake us.

“¹⁰For my father and my mother have forsaken me,

but the LORD will take me in.”

— Psalm 27:10 (ESV)

I know what might be said and thought here as relates to the verse above, “my parents love me and would not forsake me”. Well, the truth is that they will. Earthly parents will not be here forever. They will pass and move on from this world and will likely do so before we leave. No, they may not turn their backs on you and or walk away from you, but they will leave and that in and of itself is forsaking.

I find comfort in knowing that the LORD will not leave me. He is with me today, this morning even as I sit here. He will be with me tomorrow and when I pass from this world, he will be with me in heaven. At every turn, the LORD will be with me and will not forsake me, His child.

There is no reason to speak ill of earthly parents forsaking of us. It is not their role to be with us always. They are here as stewards of God’s children, us, until that time we become mature in Christ. We should still love them and they will undoubtedly love us (taking into account those who may have been over taken by this world and the evil one). They understand that they are giving us over to our heavenly Father who they know will not forsake us as he has not forsaken them.

“¹¹Teach me your way, O Lord,

and lead me on a level path

because of my enemies.”

— Psalm 27:11 (ESV)

Just as our earthly parents taught us in this world, our heavenly father teaches us His way. He not only does not forsake us, He leads us forward beyond the teachings of our earthly parents. He takes over in the leading us forward. Our earthly parents can only take us so far and as their teachings wain, God’s teachings become more and more important for us to lean on. Another example of God’s not forsaking us, where our earthly parents will. Again, it is not that our earthly parents choose to leave, it is just that their time has ended in our growth and the LORD takes over.

What is your understanding of the role of your earthly parents? Are you reliant on them for the entirety of your life? What if you realized and transitioned to reliance on God, knowing that your parents will leave you as their time does come to an end and God’s never does?

We are ALL Accountable

Regardless of who or what we are in this world, we are ALL accountable to keep the commandments of the LORD. This morning as I continue to study the word “father” in God’s Word, as usual, God reveals things to me that I was not expecting. I am not sure of what I was to learn this morning when I sat down, and as usual, God has His plan for me that I have to be open to.

“¹⁴And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:” — Deuteronomy 27:14 (ESV)

The word in the above verse that struck me was the word “all”. You see when you read the two verses before it, half of the tribes of Israel were “blessed” from Mount Gerizim, and half were “cursed” from Mount Ebal, but “all” were addressed in the verses after.

Yes, when you read the verses after, you see the curses that were declared and I immediately went to those who were “cursed” from Mount Ebal. I took the natural thought in just reading the words that those “blessed” from Mount Gerizim were to be excluded from the curses. But I then look back at verse nine and ten to see that all of Israel is addressed, not just those from one mount.

“⁹Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, ‘Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.’” – Deuteronomy 27:9-10 (ESV)

It is not just one who is to keep the commandments of the LORD, but “ALL”. There may be a separation of where we are settled in this world, yet we are all under the God and in the same kingdom. Being in the same Kingdom of God, we are all subject to the same standards and laws. One group is not “allowed” to get away with sin while another is not.

I know that it seems as though there may be two tiers (or more) of justice as we look at consequences in this world. But I am not referring to this world specifically. I am referring to the Kingdom of God and in His Kingdom, we are all held to the same commandments and are all responsible to keeping them. God is not influenced by where we settle. He is not concerned with which mount we are from. We are “ALL” His children and are responsible to keep His commandments.

What are your thoughts on where you are settled? Are you one who thinks that because of where you are you are somehow better off in the eyes of God? What if you took the approach that we are all equal in the eyes of God and all held to the same commandment in His Kingdom, regardless of where we might be in this world?

Honor, To Go with You for Sharing

I am always intrigued when God brings me to something that He has taken me to at least once before. Like this morning, back to the Ten Commandments and the same one I studied just a few days ago. Only this time, I am seeing something different than before.

“¹⁶Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” – Deuteronomy 5:16 (ESV)

Yes, I am to honor my father and mother as commanded, but why. This morning I am able to see more of that why. I am to do so in the interest of long life and that I can take it with me and share with others. Yes, I am to share that with others as I move along into the place that God has me going.

I am sure that most have heard the saying, “do as I say, not as I do”. Well, the reason for that saying is that there is not a lot of doing and only a lot of saying. Everyone else is to follow the words except for those saying them. That does not seem to be the way of Christ and a good example of Him.

It is easy to say the words and scripture. It is something else to follow them in your daily life for all the world to see and embrace. I am to be the example of what right looks like and not just the speaker of what right looks like. I have to step away from saying the words and move toward the doing what is right. Honoring my father and mother is but one of those examples of what right looks like.

As was shared with me recently, fathers and mothers are not always deserving of honor based on their actions. And where I agree with that, God does not qualify this commandment by saying to honor them as long as they do things honorable. He does say to honor them so that you can live long and carry that honor forward. And that is the why behind the action. I can honor them by not celebrating them as the saying goes, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all”. I simply do not have to reference them, only love them in the way of Christ and work to carry forward that which is right and demonstrate the gospel to others.

My role is to carry the gospel forward and be the example of what right looks like in the process. As is also said, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. I have to imitate Christ in the way I walk and talk in this world. I have to honor my father and mother to carry that honor forward that others will do the same.

What is your approach to honor? Are you the one that speaks it and yet does not necessarily demonstrate it? What if you were the example of what right looks like and carried honor with you to live long and share forward?

Don’t Forget Your Earthly Father

“³Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.” – Leviticus 19:3 (ESV)

This morning I was brought to the passage in Leviticus titled “The LORD is Holy” as I continue my study of the word “father”. Here the focus of the passage is on the holiness of the LORD and our work to keep that alive. And yet, there is a verse of the eight that references our earthly parents. We are to hold the LORD in esteem and still revere our earthly father for the position he is in thanks to God’s infinite wisdom.

God placed me with my father for a reason. I may not know that reason for all of my time here in this world and may not even have a continued relationship with him during this time, but he is my father for some reason that God will reveal in His time.

I will say that the relationship I have with my father in this world is one more in line with a friendship as opposed to a father/son relationship. And for me, that is okay. Again, I come back to the fact that the LORD place me with him for some reason and regardless of how things are going now, I have to revere my earthly father for the position he was placed in my life.

I know that not everyone has a cordial relationship with their father. In fact, I know that there are many with a relationship, if that is what you want to call it, that may not have been very wholesome and may have been down right adversarial, abusive, and/or violent. And that is the way it goes sometimes, even in the world that God has created in all its wonder. Yet, we have an earthly father and his position in our lives is one that God placed him in and we should honor that position.

Now, let me be clear here and not paint a picture of something that does not exist. I am not saying that each of us should seek out our earthly fathers and work to create a “fake” fatherly relationship. I am simply saying that our fathers here on earth are our fathers for a reason that we may not know and that we should revere the position they hold and not always look to revere the person that they are. The reality is that there are those that are just plain bad. But even those are deserving of love from us as Christians.

Easier said than done for sure, especially when they have hurt us badly. Yet, we are to love all peoples in this world and do our work to spread the gospel to them all, regardless of what they have done.

What is your view of your earthly father? Are you looking at them for the person they are? What if you viewed them for the position they hold and realize that it is indeed God that put them in that position and they are to be revered for that position?

Commanded to Honor Your Father

I know that I have left off the other we are to honor in this world, “Mother”. I will say that I am currently studying the word “father” and will come back to “mother” in the coming weeks.

This morning I was brought to the Ten Commandments in my study. I forget the full daily value of these Commandments from God. I believe that we take them for granted in our daily living. We have been given the Commandment of not stealing, not killing, not bearing falsehoods, and yet we miss the Commandment to do something, remembering the Sabbath and honoring your father.

“¹²Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” – Exodus 20:12 (ESV)

God tells us to give honor to the ones that brought you into this world. There is no mention as to whether or not you like them or that you are near them. In fact as I noted in another study and post, men are to leave their fathers. God is telling us to honor them. We are to love them and treat them with the respect.

I think the thing to remember here is not that we have a father and mother to be honored, but rather it is the Commandment of God to do so. It is such and important part of who we are as Christians to live out the Ten Commandments, I have to remember those telling me to do something is just as important as those telling me not to do something.

What is your approach to your father? Are you forgetting that you have been commanded to honor him? What if you approached all of the Commandments the same and in this instance, focused on the doing of honoring your father?

The LORD Makes Us

“⁴Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” – Genesis 17:4-5 (ESV)

Abraham was chosen by God to be the father of nations. His name was changed by God to Abraham in the process of his choosing. This choosing and making of Abraham as the father of nations is the part that is to behold at this moment. And when you look through the rest of the passage, both before and after these verses, it was much greater than just the words. Abraham was 99 years old at the time of his choosing and making.

The LORD know no boundaries. He will choose and make of whomever He needs to at that moment. God makes us into that which He needs to accomplish His will in this world. And that includes me, no I am not too old or too set in my ways or too much of a sinner. God will make me into whatever He needs me to be.

I have to believe that God has allowed me to continue learning from Him in my morning study of His Word and my thoughts and writings are doing His will. I am serving Him through my work and spreading of the gospel in the way He would have me. I may not be the one out in the not yet reached areas of the world, but He has made me to do His work here from behind my keyboard.

I know that it may seem to be easy to just sit her and type. And well, it is not physically challenging, that is right. But doing the work of God takes work and I do not take this work lightly and I work to ensure that I am in line with His will at every turn. In fact I was silent for a few weeks as I did not feel as though I was not confident in the depth of my learning and writing as I was distracted. I always want to be sure that I am devoting my time and efforts to the LORD and His work. He chose me to take this on and it is my duty to give it all of my attention.

The LORD chooses the person to complete the work and in that choosing He will make us into that which He needs in the moment. He chose and made Noah and Abraham and Moses and He will choose you as well.

What are you doing as a result of being chosen and made by God? Are you even aware that He could/would chose you? What if you dedicated yourself to the will of God and allowed Him to shape you into that which He needs?

Leave Your Father

“²⁴Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” – Genesis 2:24 (ESV)

Lori and I have been married for 27yrs plus. There is nothing I would not do for her including going. Going to the store, to the game, to the theater, frankly, wherever she would like to go. We are one in this world together and have been since the day we said “I do”. There has never been a question as to where I am to spend my life and time, with her.

I believe that I have trained my boys to be the same. Take care of their wife (whoever and whenever that might be). Being fully with them in all. I am their earthly father and love them dearly, yet they are not mine to keep. My boys are the sons of the Father on high. They should leave me and be with their wives and be with their heavenly Father going forward.

I will admit that I am internally emotional with my sons leaving when the time comes. I ask myself, have I trained them up, are they ready to be husbands and fathers themselves, did I do well enough? And, I also know that there is nothing that I can do to fully prepare them for all that is coming in their lives. But the one thing I can hold on to is that I did the best that I could with what I have and that I leave it all up to their heavenly Father to carry them through going forward.

They are not their fully yet. Bryson has a serious girlfriend and Aarron is headed to the Navy. So, I have some additional time to prepare them for leaving me as their father. But they will and that is expected. I do not wish they stay with me. They are to go and be with their wives when the time comes and that will leave me to fully be with my wife Lori for the rest of our time here in this world.

What is you view of where you are to be when the time comes? Is your wife to be with you? What if you take to be with your wife and know that is where the LORD wants you to be?

For One Body of Christ

“⁸Therefore it says,

‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,

and he gave gifts to men.’

¹¹And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” — Ephesians 4:8, 11-12 (ESV)

Paul again calls out that which is for One Body of Christ. There are gifts given to men like those identified in verse 11 above. These gifts may be of or for an individual or a set of different individuals in support of the work of bringing the gospel to the world. Either way, they are for One Body of Christ.

I forget that gifts are necessarily those tangible items for the one. They may be in support of or things we may not really know. There are time we are not granted things and that is the gift. Such as arriving on time to places. If we would have been 2 minutes earlier, we may have been the one in an accident as opposed to just simply coming upon the accident. The delay was the gift and that is for One Body of Christ as He likely has something in mind that I am meant to be a part.

I have to be open to all that is so that I am able to apply it to the work I am doing to spread the gospel. I am just one part of One Body of Christ. I am doing work at God’s design and that work is where I will find the gifts He has for me.

What work are you doing for Christ? Are you aware of the gifts He provides? What if you were to accept all as the gifts and know that you are part of One Body of Christ and you do all for the One Body of Christ?

There is One Body

When I read the passage on the word “body” this morning, I was not able to fully put my thoughts together. I stepped away for the day and came back to God’s Word this afternoon and it hit me like a freight train. There is but one Body of Christ.

I hear and have written about the church and/as the Body of Christ. Notice in my writing “the”. This as I was thinking this afternoon was not fully accurate. Yes, there is “the” church and “the” Body of Christ, but how much have we thought of there only being “one”?

“⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” – Ephesians 4:4-6 (ESV)

I read the words of Paul and see the key part of the verses above being “one” in this instance. There is but ONE in each instance.

Now, there are many parts to this one body as I have written, but it is just that, many parts to the “one” Body of Christ. There are not multiple factions of the body of Christ, only One. There are not your body of Christ and my body of Christ, there is only the One Body of Christ.

It is easy to get caught up in just saying the words and not really thinking of the meaning of them and that meanings impact. For me as I learn and understand more, it is the meaning that makes it all worth while. I have to remember to keep this in mind as I learn, speak, write, and overall communicate. I have to take into account the meaning of what I am saying to ensure that I am saying things the right way. With this meaning of the words in mind, I will be working to speak of the “One” Body of Christ and not just “the” Body of Christ.

What is your view/look at the difference in “the” versus “one” Body of Christ? Are you even thinking of the meaning of the words when spoken? What if you were to really dig into the meaning to ensure you are getting it right and speaking to One Body of Christ?

All are the Body

“⁶This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” – Ephesians 3:6 & 2:14 (ESV)

Paul points out here that all of us are members of the body of Christ. Not just those who are of the chosen, but all who are in this world.

Too often, there is a sense that only certain people are able to be a part of something. Where it may seem that way to the casual observer, Paul points out that is not the case when it comes to being members of the body of Christ. In verse 6 from chapter 3 there is notice that Gentile are “fellow heirs” in verse 14 of chapter 2, he points out that “both” Jew and Gentile are as one in Christ.

I am reminded of the saying in sports that coaches do have favorites, even when we don’t really want them to. Those favorites are those who are working and doing the work on the field and in the gym and in the weight room. I look at our relationship with Christ and see the same thing in Him. God does not concern himself with who it is that is coming to Him, whether Jew or Gentile, He is concerned with the work in the heart of the individual.

We are all members of the body of Christ. Not matter our background or any other characteristics. God is not concerned with the outward appearance or what has happened in the past. He only concerns Himself with the now and the state of the heart and the devotion to Him. It is this that He recognizes and accepts that one into the family of God to be “fellow heirs” in heaven.

What is your take on who is part of the body of Christ? Are you of the thinking that there is some outward right of one over another? What if you just accepted the heart of the individual as the indicator and accepted them as Christ accepts them?