Loving the Father!

I just love it when God shows up in different areas of my life to just show me that He loves me! Yesterday as I was driving home from work, I was listening to Crazy Love by Francis Chan. In Crazy Love, Chan was talking about how much the Father loves us and used an illustration that really hit home with me. If you have kids you might connect with this. He was talking about how when he comes home that his daughter Rachel sometime runs out to meet him at his car and loves to give him big hugs. He talked about how she comes up to him out of nowhere while he is reading a book and gives him the biggest bear hug and the biggest kiss! Chan explains how he loves when it happens because it makes him feel like he is king of the world. He looks forward to those times and so do I! Last night was one of those moments I look forward to, one of those God moments. I had to meet my dad late last night so he can get my car repaired, so it was really late when I got home. The kids were in bed and Holly was waiting on me to get home so we could go to bed. As we were getting ready for bed, I heard Caitlyn. The next thing I knew she was standing up in her bed saying “Da” with her arms reaching up towards me. I reached down and she gave me the biggest hug and then kissed me on my cheek. Afterwards she lay back down and went to sleep. It was like she had waited up for me! I felt like I was king of the world! Chan goes on to tell about times when he comes home and she isn’t there to meet him. Then when he goes inside and sees her she might be on the computer or hanging out with a friend, but doesn’t seem to have time to acknowledge him or even to say hi. He said that in a way, it hurts when this happens. I can relate to this very well. There are times when I will call Caitlyn over to me so I can give her a hug or something and she is busy playing and seems to ignore me, granted she is 17 months old and she might not completely understand what I am saying. It does make me feel hurt in a way. Hopefully these times are very limited and I pray they don’t happen very often. There is just something very special when your children express their love to you!

Now here is the part that really hits home for me… Chan describes these time in a different view. He uses the times with his daughter to show that this is the way God wants us to be with Him! He can’t wait for us to come running to Him just because we love Him. Not just during the times when we “need” Him, but because we “want” to be with Him. Imagine how it makes God feel when we are excited to be in His arms! So many times we are too busy hanging out with others, doing our own things and we don’t have the time to even acknowledge Him in our day, not even to say Hi. As a dad I can relate to both of these times! I can understand that God wants to have those times with me that I can’t wait to see Him, to spend time with Him talking to Him and in His word. I wonder how sad it makes Him feel when I just seem to ignore Him or when we are just too busy for Him, except for the times when we “need” him. I guess the question really is “How much do I really love the Father?” How am I showing Abba Father my love for Him? I know my little girl loves me a whole lot! She expresses that love by her actions and the way she wants to spend time with me and the love she gives me. Last night I realized how I need to show my love for my heavenly Father! I cried out to the Lord last night on my way home from meeting my dad, just telling Him that I want more of Him and that I wanted to have that excitement to just be with Him. This morning I woke up with a great anticipation to just meet with God!

And to top it off, God showed me I was on the right track! God showed this to me in Ezekiel 23. In Ezekiel 23, the Lord gave Ezekiel a message concerning Samaria and Jerusalem which He says they were sisters. He refers to Samaria as Oholah and Jerusalem as Oholibah. In the last part of verse 4 God says, “I married them…” Marriage is a powerful analogy for the kind of relationship that God wants with us. He wants an intimate relationship with us, see Ephesians 5:22-33. (Ephesians 5:32 explains that God is using the marriage of man and wife to illustrates the relationship that He wants with us.) Now let’s go back to Ezekiel. He said the two sisters were living in adultery. The Lord said that they prostitutes because they were in love with others instead of Him. In verse 5 it says: “Then Oholah lusted after other lovers instead of me, and gave her love to the Assyrians, her neighbors.” And in verse 11, “Yet even though Oholibah saw what had happened to her sister, she followed right in her footstep.” God’s people turned their backs on Him. They were too busy for the Father; they were hanging out with others instead of Him. Calling them prostitutes may seem pretty harsh; however, God is showing how serious He takes His relationship with us! As I read this passage I could feel and hear the hurt in the Father’s voice. God did bring judgment on them, however, my point is that God loved them and wanted an intimate relationship with them, but they turned from Him. I think about how many times I have been too busy to spend time with my Father. I even said something to my wife about how I can get up at 5 AM in the morning to go hunting but I can’t get up 10 or 15 minutes early in the morning to spend time with Him. I know this has to hurt my heavenly Father! It really convicted me to think about these questions, “How much do I really love the Father?” and “How am I showing Him that I love Him?” It is my desire to grow in my relationship with Him.

The biggest question I could ask right now of anyone is this: “How much do you love the Father?” It is my prayer that everyone asks this question of themselves, and that you run excitingly into your Father's arms just to be with Him and tell Him that you love Him with all of your heart, mind and soul.

May you be “In His Grip” and never leave it!