"Father to the fatherless"

In Psalm 68, we read, “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling” (verse 5; NIV).  I found a helpful article from the website got questions.org.  This article is answering the question why God is called a “father to the fatherless.”  I’m not going to quote the whole thing here (I will have a link below), but check out this paragraph.

“He presents himself as a Father because we all know what a father is and does.  Even if we did not have earthly fathers who treated us well, we have an intrinsic understanding of what a good father should be.  God planted that understanding in our hearts.  We all have a need to be loved, cherished, protected, and valued.  Ideally, an earthly father will meet those needs, but even if he doesn’t, God will.  Jesus taught His followers to address God as Father (Luke 11:2).  Throughout Scripture, God describes His love for us as that of a caring parent (Isaiah 49:15; John 16:26-27; 2 Corinthians 6:18).  Although He possesses characteristics of both father and mother (Isaiah 66:13), He chooses the masculine word because it denotes strength, protection, and provision (Psalm 54:4).”

I had the thought that someone came across this blog for the very first time because you were drawn to the concept of God being a father to the fatherless.  Perhaps your dad has recently died.  Perhaps your father has been completely absent and detached from your life.  Whatever the case may be, it’s not an accident that God led you to this blog.  Not because my words are great, but because God’s Word is great.  The Bible explicitly states that God is a father to the fatherless.  He will fill the void that your earthly father’s absence has created.

Perhaps you are thinking, “How do you know that?”  I know it because God’s path for my life was for my wonderful father’s earthly existence to end last month at the age of 60.  We still have no idea why this occurred aside from the broad answer that it was the time God predetermined before he was even born (see Psalm 139:16).

 

My dad was a great dad.  He was always ready at a moment’s notice to help me in whatever way I needed help.  But now that he is gone, I have noticed that God really is a “father to the fatherless.” I love that last sentence in that got questions.org article that I cited earlier.  It reads, “He chooses the masculine word because it denotes strength, protection, and provision.”  Throughout this whole dark, trying, painful season, God has shown that He is strong, He is protector, and He is provider.

Kevin

http://www.gotquestions.org/father-to-the-fatherless.html