For My Father: God is Pleased

For My Father

Deuteronomy 1:29-31
Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

This verse affirms the view I have of my father and the position he has occupied in my life. It is one of exhortation, comfort, hope and a future.

God is speaking to the fears of the Israelites as they were conflicted with the haunting memories of the plagues and their experience in the exodus from Egypt. This was not the first (or last) time that they murmured or complained during the 40-year wilderness wandering. God is framing their the emotions, not in the context of their past, but in light of their future. He was affirming that their struggles, hurts, anxieties and restless feelings were legitimate, but He was redirecting their cries to Him and not their countryman. His provision was always present and stable, their reaction to their circumstance was not. It was weak, frail, broken and helpless on its own. I am an Israelite. I see it in my frailty of spirit… daily.

“The Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place…”

Why did God choose this analogy? Could He not have just said, “He carried you as He has always done and will always do”? Wouldn’t that have sufficed based on their experience in His faithful deeds? No, the language and analogy used was meant to draw on a specific memory and to extract a specific emotion. God’s love was incarnated to the Israelites through the selfless act and love of a father. This image is tender, loving and repudiating the false claim found in verse 27. Their minds were taken back to scenes of literal fathers carrying the limp bodies of their children during the exodus. It must have been a striking image, but it most certainly centered the stumbling Israelite.

This is the image I have of my own father. My mind is obviously taken back to memories of being half-asleep and feeling my dad lift me off of a chair or couch and carry me to my bed, securing me for the a night’s rest. Also, I am taken to more symbolic imagery where I recall times of failure. Times of letdown where my father decided to opt out of the “teach you a lesson” mode and defaulted to a “love you through this” mindset. This is where the true manifestation of Christ’s love was unfolded to me. Through the love of a father, my father.

People often argue that I exaggerate the feelings I have about my father. When someone whom I have recently met or become acquainted with asks me to tell them about my family, I light-up because I know that I am about to have the opportunity to introduce them to one of the most incredible, Christ-filled people on earth… my dad. My feelings are real. They’re true. They have been validated over 31 years and will for decades to come as I recall them to my son and to his. I am blessed…

Our God is pleased in this man, because he finds his all in His God. 1 Chronicles 29:17 says, “I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.”

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