Anxiety, Hope and Our Fatherنموونە

Our Father in Heaven

How can knowing God as Father bring us hope in anxious circumstances?

When Jesus tells His followers how to pray, he begins, “Our Father in heaven.” As our Father, God loves us deeply and unconditionally. Think of the good father who tells his helpless child, “Let me take care of that.” As our Father in heaven, God can bring both otherworldly comfort and cosmic power to our situations.

We see a picture of this care in Isaiah 40, which opens with God comforting His people and speaking tenderly to them (vv. 1-2). Jesus, our shepherd, tends his flock and gathers his lambs in his arms close to his heart, paying gentle attention to nursing mothers (v. 11). This same God, “enthroned above the circle of the earth” that He created, tirelessly oversees its people (vv. 22-27). We can’t face a difficulty without His knowledge.

In his book Knowing God, J.I. Packer writes, “Living becomes an awesome business when you realize that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an omniscient, omnipresent creator.” The Father knows us intimately. As Packer says, it’s false “to accuse God of forgetting, or overlooking, or losing interest in the state and needs of His own people.”

In whatever way you learned to pray, you’ve probably said or heard the Lord’s prayer. Without saying it by rote, try praying this prayer today just as it’s written. Start with our Father, who sees us and knows our needs, who’s powerful enough to act and tender enough to care.