God’s Father

Hosea 14:1 O Israel, return to the Lord your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; 2 Take words with you, And return to the Lord. Say to Him, "Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips. 3 Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, 'You are our gods.' For in You the fatherless finds mercy." 4 "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him. 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; He shall grow like the lily, And lengthen his roots like Lebanon. 6 His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon. 7 Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; They shall be revived like grain, And grow like a vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon. 8 "Ephraim shall say, 'What have I to do anymore with idols?' I have heard and observed him. I am like a green cypress tree; Your fruit is found in Me." 9 Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them.

God has a heart for fathers.

The very title He has chosen for Himself - of all those He could have had us refer to Him by – is ‘Father.’

If there is anyone to be chosen as a role model for fathers and fatherhood, it is God Himself.

God indicates His great concern for the role of fatherhood by His great concern for the fatherless.

43 times in His word, God refers to the plight of the fatherless. In fact, one of the main reasons He chose to judge the nation of Israel is because they did not care for the fatherless children in their midst.

In the Book of James, the Holy Spirit tells us concern for the fatherless is one of the marks of “true religion.” In other words, if you are truly seeking the heart of God, one of the marks of that seeking will be a true concern for those who are fatherless.

In our “modern” age, we have begun to think fathers may not be necessary at all. (Perhaps this was part of Israel’s crime as well.) We say that anyone can raise a child, and that two women or two men doing that job are as equipped as the standard nuclear family to accomplish all that is needed in child-raising.

We have replaced confusion for care and concern. Who is the author of confusion?

That we may have a concern for the fatherless tells us how concerned we are to be for our own actions as fathers. In full definition, a ‘father’ is much more than biological, and this is probably the strongest indication of what God is driving at in His judgment of the people over their lack of concern for the fatherless.

In short, His concern is for the children, plain and simple. The innocent victims of fatherlessness – and most of all the Godlessness of fatherlessness – have always been God’s children. It takes a Godly father to raise a Godly child. Are you God’s father to His children?

-Pastor Bill