Seeing God As Father

Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. – Hebrews 12:9-11

Today’s Reading: Ezekiel 5-7; Hebrews 12

Earlier, I wrote a post about the “fearing God” in which I told the story of getting in trouble when I was little for riding my bike in the street. Since then something has changed in my understanding.

I was recently told that I need to learn to see God as “Father”.

Initially I had no idea what that meant. Why did I need to see God as Father when He had always been a friend and mentor? I rebelled against the idea for a while until the passage above reminded me of that same story of me riding a bike as a child. I see now that my father played an important role. Relatively speaking he was the all knowing one in that situation. At that age I couldn’t possibly comprehend the danger of my decision to ride in the street. He did though; and he used discipline not only to correct me, but also to set me up to have the opportunity to grow and have a blessed life in the future.

I’ve come to realize that seeing God as Father is similar. It is giving God the proper place of being the all seeing, all powerful, and all knowing. It accepts the notion that since God created the universe, just maybe He is best equipped to lead me through it.

In the short time that I have worked on switching my perspective of God from mentor or friend to Father, I have seen the truth of the verses above come to fruition in my life. True, the discipline didn’t seem pleasant at the time, but that harvest has been more than bountiful.

And the journey continues.