Father of the Fatherless

Psalm 68:5 - A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation. 

"In a world with reason to be despairing of humanity, there is still the startling image of the perfect human, whose only brokenness was at our own hands. Christ is more than someone who came to fix what was wrong. He is the image of all that is right, and the bread of life for those who seek to be genuinely human" (Jill Carattini, managing editor of A Slice of Infinity, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia).

We saw the movie Courageous last night. It's a Christian film by the Baptist church which did the amazing movie Facing the Giants. Somehow I thought what Carattini wrote was appropriate in regards to this movie. The movie pointed out the brokenness and imperfection in our lives and two main truths: We need a Father and we need to live our lives honestly for His provision to take place.

We are a fallen world. It is broken. It is imperfect. I wrote about Noah earlier this week and God's decision to destroy all things and start anew. Well, here we are back in the same predicament, probably worse, and don't some of us know God will only take so much before He sends Jesus back to handle the mess we've made and bring judgment to some.

The movie pointed to a key issue which can be seen in two ways: 

• It stressed the need for fathers to be part of their childrens' lives. In other words, children need a father to look up to.  Do you see where I'm heading?
• We are all in need of a father, but when all else fails, we have a Father in Heaven who will meet those needs and even greater needs. 

However, unlike our earthly father, God the Father is perfect in His love; He will not fail us as long as we don't fail Him. He comes wooing us; He finds us, we do not find Him. When we hear His voice and heed His call, He becomes the Father we could never have on earth. 

The movie stressed that there are way too many fatherless children in this world, accounting for this brokenness. Fatherless in that they have abandoned their responsibility...either by walking out completely or by simply not being there to encourage or guide--even if they are physically there. When fathers are AWOL, it showed the paths children might take without a strong father figure. We are ALL in need of proper guidance...so don't think this movie was just about fathers.

We are a fallen world. That's why our Father in Heaven calls us to seek Him, the Father to the fatherless. He sent His perfect Son into this world that we might see the Father. He tells us: If you have seen Me, you've seen the Father (John 14:9).  I've mentioned time and again that the road to life through Jesus Christ is narrow and few are on it. Look at this world. Without Him we flounder. Without the need for core values in our homes (and lives), we come apart. But with God as our Center it brings an understanding of good values in life beginning with discipline and balance, of becoming more involved and interested in those closest to us and less of our own.

There were five men in this movie whose lives were addressed, representing five different scenarios. After an incident, one father came to the gripping conclusion he had not been good enough and determined to find out what it would take to become a better father. Being a Christian (and still vulnerable in a fallen world...there's always room for change), he researched the Bible and came up with a resolution he wanted to present to his four friends, one that would make him accountable. Well, they all chose to sign the resolution. 

It was pointed out that although it may seem an easy thing to agree to do, it would become difficult when things were thrown into their paths where choices were needed to be made...choices that could affect their future. When the right and honest choices were made blessings came; the wrong choices only came to bite back. And each man was presented with a choice to make, just like in real life.

Our Father in Heaven sent us His Son, that when we receive Him we have started out by making that first wise choice to make Him the center of our lives.  The man with the resolution chose wisely and sought the original Source for the right answers and the right ways. Jesus is our right Way. A good place to start. It always starts and ends with Jesus...the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. Amen! 

There were other things in the movie that conceptualized ways God is faithful to those who seek Him. They may have seemed fairytale-like in the movie, but I know in real life these things do happen...and not by coincidence. God is a God of miracles and He did say this: Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:19). 

God makes ways...and the first Way He made was and is Jesus. Who can fully grasp the enormity of that? Just like these men who resolved to become better fathers, we can all become better people...not by anything we are able to do, but by the ways God has mapped out for us. It all starts with acknowledging God and knowing that He sent His Son Jesus to not only save us from the sin and guilt we are born into this world with, but to guide us through our lives, to be the Way...which brings truth and light to life.

If we live honestly (in big ways as well as small), abide by His plan for all of us, we will prosper...not necessarily with finances, but spiritually, again in ways our human mind doesn't comprehend...like peace in the midst of tragedy. God will see how we trust in Him and will provide for our needs when we cannot fathom how we might get through something. He will make that road in the wilderness and make a river in our desert.

Going back to the first paragraph above, [Jesus] is the image of all that is right. These men resolved to be better fathers and it started with a relationship with Christ, living by His example and understanding what He requires. Of course one might say this was just a movie with what might seem an impossible message for today's world. But when one has seen the hand of God at work in their life, it's not so difficult to believe He does make things happen. He does exist and He does work in people's lives...if they have submitted themselves first to Jesus and let Him be their Way.

Jill Carattini further stated, in my own words, we are imperfect beings apart from God. She said Christianity does not have an upper hand in perfection or fallenness. ...the Christian's advantage is simply that they are aware of their own broken humanity within a broken, fallen world because they are aware of the one perfect human.  That one perfect human was/is Jesus Christ. If we want to resolve ourselves in general to a better life, it starts with Him. Some time in our lives we come to a point where we realize this broken humanity within ourselves because of something we've done or lived through, we are convicted of it and we come to the realization we need help. Jesus is that help. Nothing or no one else.

Courageous was in part showing our absolute need for Christ. We can do nothing without Him and when we do receive Him and believe that He exists even today, He will work in our lives beyond our human imaginations. He will forgive us of sin, give us eternal life, which is far greater than what we think we have on earth. He will provide in ways we can't comprehend. He is the Father to the fatherless. He fills voids left by imperfect people.

The path is narrow and few tread on it. We see a fallen world because of this. It's not getting any better, but there's still hope. There's still time to seek the Father of our existence, the Father who seeks us with His whole heart and longs for relationship with us.

Psalms 103:13 - As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.