Our HEAVENLY Father

Psalm 68:5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

Our holy God, whose throne is in the heavens, who makes a footstool of the earth, and measures the oceans in the palm of his hand, our great and terrible God calls himself a father of the fatherless. God Almighty takes in the orphans, and appoints Himself protector of the widows.

I know what it is to be fatherless. God took my father when I was a small boy. I remember the pain of it, the insecurity of it, the hunger for a father. I was the same age as my oldest when I was fatherless. I remember how I longed for a father. I remember when my mother remarried. My new dad not only married my mother, but he married her three children as well. And he took me in and made me his child. I’ll never forget that.

One of the greatest blessings of that man, my dad, was that I could go to him, I could talk to him, he would listen to me, he would answer me, and he would give me what I needed.

Of all the names of God, it seems that we use the name of “Heavenly Father” the most. I think it reminds us that our God is approachable. When we pray in that name, we are reminded that he is not a distant God ruling from an unreachable throne. He is father. He is our Father. A father of the fatherless. He is the father of all that believe. He is our Father, which art in heaven.

I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Think of the blessing in that name. As Father, he is available to us, and he is accessible to us, so long as we approach him through Jesus Christ. As Father, he feeds us, provides for us, pities us, protects us, chastises us, and forgives us. As Father, he loves us as only a Father can.

This Father’s Day, be sure you praise and thank your heavenly Father. Worship him, and give him gifts: the fruit of your lips giving thanks to his name.