A Perfect Father

"You were always there for me, Dad!" Sierra shoved that card back in the rack. "How can I thank you for all the things you taught me as a child?" Not quite right, either. She grimaced. Where's a card that won't make me feel like a hypocrite? Something like "You were always too busy with your career to come to my recitals and school plays so I don't really have childhood memories of fun times with you and now we feel so distant from each other that conversation is mostly about the weather or the news, but Happy Father's Day anyway."

No father is perfect. Eli and David were both godly men placed in leadership roles who devoted themselves to the Lord. Yet they each made serious mistakes in parenting that not only damaged their own families, but had a negative impact on the nation of Israel. Another example is Lot. Even though the Bible describes him as a righteous man (see 2 Peter 2:7-8Close2 Peter 2:7-8 But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ), Lot failed his daughters in a way that caused much misery and degradation. When men from Sodom surrounded Lot's house and demanded sex with the two men who were his guests, Lot offered them his virgin daughters instead. Lot placed greater importance on his role as host than on his role as father and protector of the children God had entrusted to him.

It's hard to imagine how the girls felt about being offered to a half-crazed mob for sexual pleasure, and by their own father at that. We do know from their later actions that they had no respect for themselves or for Lot. After God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters lived a secluded life in a cave in the mountains. The girls tricked their drunken father into having sex with them. They placed greater importance on continuing the family line than on basic laws of morality. The sons born from this incest grew up to be the ancestors of two of Israel's bitterest enemies.

Each one of us has probably felt let down in some way by our parents, whether by minor disappointments or by deep, lasting wounds of neglect or abuse. We may have a distant or strained relationship with our father; we may even be completely estranged from them. Maybe a part of us still feels like a needy child, longing for our daddy's love and approval, which may never come. It's easy to forget that all earthly fathers are human and prone to mistakes, just as we are. Our parents most likely had their own hurts and emotional issues that we were never aware of.

Regardless of our relationship with our dad, we can rejoice that our heavenly Father is perfect and loves us with "an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3CloseJeremiah 31:3 Long ago the LORD said to Israel:"I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.  With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) ). That love led Him to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. We can rest assured that He will never let us down; He will never fail to meet our needs and satisfy our deepest longings. And if we ask Him, He is also ready to help us forgive all the hurts that have been done to us. In cases like Sierra's, he can help us rebuild that father-daughter relationship so that buying a Father's Day card is a lot easier.

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! 1 John 3:1Close1 John 3:1 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we are God's children because they don't know him. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)

(Read Lot's story in the Bible: Genesis 19:6-8CloseGenesis 19:6-8 So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. "Please, my brothers," he begged, "don't do such a wicked thing. Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection." OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) , Genesis 19:30-38CloseGenesis 19:30-38 Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters. One day the older daughter said to her sister, "There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can't get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children. Come, let's get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father." So that night they got him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, "I had sex with our father last night. Let's get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father." So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. As a result, both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their own father. When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab.* He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites. When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi.* He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites. OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt) )

This devotion is adapted from The One Year Women of the Bible with permission. (Tyndale House) © 2010 Dianne Neal Matthews