Overcoming Father Wounds a 7-Day Reading Play by Kia Stephensናሙና

Day 7: Embrace an abundant relationship with our heavenly father.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.1 John 3:1

By design, the relationship with our biological dad should prepare us for a relationship with our heavenly Father. A father provides a window through which we can experience the heart of God. According to The Washington Times, “Sociologists say it’s common for people to perceive that God is like the fatherly figures in their lives.

If dad is caring, patient and concerned then children will believe God has those same characteristics. And the opposite holds true when a father is harsh, judgmental or absent.” Most often, when fathers are tender, loving, and compassionate, this lends itself to our believing God is this way too.

Likewise, if the father is abusive or absent physically or emotionally, the adult child may believe that is God’s nature as well. I did; I unknowingly equated the absence of my father when I was a child with God’s seeming absence when I was an adult.

He didn’t speak to me audibly.

He couldn’t be seen.

My prayers seemed to go unanswered.

Many times I felt ignored, believing I could never know and be known by an invisible God.

I was wrong. God can’t be limited by our comprehension of the word father. He supersedes every connotation. Even if we grew up with a wonderful dad, God remains undeniably the perfect father.

He is unmatched in His love toward us. For every daughter desperately longing to know if she will ever experience the love of a father, God, the ultimate Father, responds, “Yes!”

Several verses in Scripture substantiate God the Father’s role in the lives of His children. Romans 8:15 says, “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” First John 3:1 says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” And Psalm 68:5 says, “A father to the fatherless . . . is God in his holy dwelling.”

He has chosen to reveal Himself to all believers as a loving Father in His Word. Despite this truth, many people believe God is unable to be a “real father” in the lives of those who were not fathered by their biological father.

I get it. Logically, it simply doesn’t make sense for an infinite God to commune with a finite and flawed individual, but it doesn’t have to make sense to be true. Neither you nor I have to believe it for it to be so; it is so.

If the expectation is for God to clothe Himself in flesh and physically do everything we wish our earthly fathers were doing, then we will likely find ourselves disappointed. God is able to do this, but it’s not likely that He will. We don’t comprehend God as Father through our limited human understanding. We comprehend God as Father by faith through the Spirit of God who lives on the inside of every believer. Attempting to comprehend God as Father through a human lens will keep us in a perpetual state of frustration and cause us to miss out on the miracle and blessing of a relationship with Him.

God was intentional about communicating His heart towards us. He longs for us to know him as a perfect father: intimately concerned about the things that concern us (1 Peter 5:7 NIV). He cares about every tear you have ever cried regarding your father and he wants to replace your sorrow with hope and peace. If you have a father wound know that the void of a father wounded daughter is filled by the infinite love of an abundant God.

How have you seen God as a heavenly Father in your life? How does this fact encourage you?

If you have benefited from this 7-day devotional and would like additional resources for overcoming your father wounds Check out Kia’s book, “Overcoming Father Wounds: Exchanging Your Pain For God’s Perfect Love”.