The Importance and the Blessing of an Understanding Father

Advent Series Part Three: Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6)

Both my grandsons have been created in the express image of their fathers, which amounts to a temperamental salad bar of sensitivity, willfulness, and a worldview that sees all of life as a multiple-choice quiz--and all the answers are "None of the Above." This shared understanding has given these young dads a distinct advantage in their fathering role: They work hard to understand their sons.

As compulsive rule-followers and people-pleasers, my husband and I both felt deeply our lack of understanding whenever we were up against a disciplinary challenge with our four sons. Consequently, there were times when we overreacted and, in hindsight, times when we completely missed the whole point!

By vivid contrast, our Heavenly Father understands His children perfectly. Psalm 119 contains no fewer than eight references to God as the Ultimate Wellspring of Understanding, and while Job's buddies didn't get much right in their counseling sessions beside the ash heap, both Zophar and Elihu described and had experienced God as One who is Manifold and Mighty in Understanding.

The Understanding Father

Perhaps you struggle year-round with unfulfilled longings for an understanding father that went unmet in your childhood. Christmas may conjure up sad memories for you.

It's hard to overstate the importance of a father's role in the family. Therefore, father wounds are deep, and Christianity isn't a magic wand that automatically erases a painful past.

However, a relationship with Christ does provide a new beginning and a right understanding of fatherhood. The truth is that God did not look at His Creation and then decide, "Ahhh, fatherhood! What a great metaphor for My Compassionate Care for these people I've created!"

The opposite is true. First, there was God the Father, the embodiment of Fatherhood. The earthly counterpart is merely a shadow, a pale adumbration of the Father-ness of God.

Tragically, sometimes fathers get it 100% wrong. But when fathers get it right, they embody and depict the Compassionate Care and the Giving Heart of our Heavenly Father.

The Son of God Is the Everlasting Father

Is it problematic that Isaiah 9:6 describes God the Son as the Everlasting Father? Let's not get bogged down in Trinitarian theology, but here's the unraveling of the seemingly tangled terminology:

Jesus's Identity as "Everlasting Father" in Isaiah 9:6 isn't directed toward His Role within the Godhead. Like Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father is a description of His Actions and His Character toward us.

Jesus's Compassionate Care for us is also vividly depicted in the metaphor of the Good Shepherd. He shepherds us as a Wise and Understanding Father, and His willingness to "lay down his life for his sheep" makes Him a Giver of good gifts--the Gift that secures our future with Him.

We have forever to invest in learning to love the One who shepherds, affirms, guides, and stays close to us. The Everlasting Father has opened up Eternity as a Good and Beautiful Gift for those who trust in Him.

The question today is: Will you place your trust in Him—and displace your trust in yourself?