10 Ways God is the Perfect Father (In Case Yours Wasn’t) Pt 2
by Cindi McMenamin
If you haven’t read the first 5 ways that God is the perfect father from last month, click here! Now to conclude the ways God is amazing.
6. He loves you enough to discipline you.
You might have a hard time with this, especially if you were disciplined by your own father out of his anger, rather than his love. God’s Word says in Proverbs 3:11-12: “do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.”
Scripture also says “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them” (Proverbs 13:24). Have you ever had God refuse to give you something or take something away that you loved? Trust that your Heavenly Father was either protecting you from something or disciplining you out of love, or both.
7. His timing is perfect.
God doesn’t make mistakes. Nor does He forget. And unlike human fathers, His timing is always perfect. When He withholds something from you, it’s not necessarily because He’s angry or punishing you, or just not listening to the concerns on your heart. Scripture tells us in Psalm 84:11, “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
If you’re walking uprightly and you’re asking God for a good thing and He’s not delivering, it either isn’t truly good for you, or it isn’t time. Trust Him. Trust what He knows. Trust His timing. And trust the process He’s allowing you to go through. He knows how to give good gifts at just the right time.
- He gives wisdom generously.
Did you have a father who held back in any way? Who only gave you advice when you applied it the last time he doled it out? Or who only gave you the bare minimum of what you needed – or not even that – to teach you a lesson or because he didn’t trust you with the gift? Your Heavenly Father is not like that.
James 1:5 says “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” That verse means your Heavenly Father will never say “I gave you wisdom once before and you didn’t use it, so I’m not giving you any more.” He gives wisdom generously. To all. Without finding fault.
- He lets you make your own choices.
While God has expectations of you, like your earthly father might have, He doesn’t disown you or back out of your life when you select a different path. A wise, loving, and patient Father, He waits. And He “causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”(Romans 8:28). That means when you come back to His best plan for your life, you find that it’s something you really wanted, too, and you find He is able to use those mistakes for good in your life from that point on.
- He knows you intimately.
It is one of the deepest needs of the human race. To be intimately known. Yet sometimes we hide who we really are out of fear of rejection or that someone may lose interest in us when they discover what we are really like, warts and all. Scripture says your Heavenly Father knows you intimately.
In Psalm 139, David said “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways” (Psalm 139:1-3). God knows your thoughts before you think them, your words before you say them, and your actions before you carry them out. And with all that intimate knowledge of you, He continues to love you like the perfect Father.
~ Cindi
Cindi McMenamin is a national speaker and award-winning writer who helps women and couples strengthen their relationship with God and with others. She has authored more than a dozen books including When Women Walk Alone(more than 130,000 copies sold), When God Sees Your Tears, When a Woman Overcomes Life’s Hurts, When God Pursues a Woman’s Heart, and 10 Secrets to Becoming a Worry-Free Mom.For more on her resources to help strengthen your walk with God, your marriage, or your parenting, see her website: www.StrengthForTheSoul.com.
