This week, September 16, 2015 is the 5th anniversary of my dad’s passing. It would be hard to write a devotional this week without reflecting on that. I love that man with all my heart. The tears are rolling.
He was very supportive during his lifetime and there is no doubt in my mind that he loved me and would do anything for me. He would turn the world upside-down if necessary. I knew that at a heart level. I am sure that fact is the strong foundation of my love for him. Having said that, one might suspect that my dad and I had the perfect relationship. But that was not the case. The day-to-day living out of that love was not always smooth. I had the hardest time holding a deep, meaningful conversation with my dad. I always felt like we didn’t really ‘get’ each other. From my perspective, we thought and expressed ourselves so differently.
Last week, the man who I fondly refer to as “my second dad” passed away as well. Noel Campbell was beloved by far more than me during all his years of living and ministry. He was a spiritual father to many. I felt I could talk to him about anything and his abiding response was always unconditional love. I knew that he too wanted the best for me and many times walked the second and third mile with me.
Lately I have been struggling to understand my Heavenly Father and His plan for my life. There are circumstances in my life about which I feel unable to understand what the Father is saying to me. There are prayers that seem to go unanswered and situations that confound the logic that I had assigned to them. I don’t always “get” what the Father is doing. I can’t see the big picture like He does. Isaiah 55 tells us that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours.
As I was considering my life and my relationship with my dad, this scripture came to me. Luke 11: 11-13 AMP “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you, then, being evil [that is, sinful by nature], know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!”
It seems that the Lord is reminding me that with my earthly father there were times that communication was unclear and understanding elusive. The same can be true with Father God because I cannot see what He sees clearly. I know that my earthly fathers loved me and would do their best for me, how much more my perfect Heavenly Father! He has my best in mind. He has my back. He sees what I do not. My charge is to trust Him and seek Him with all my heart. He will do the rest.
I dedicate this devotional to my father, Hal Frey and to Noel Campbell, two men who have helped me understand God the Father’s love. Lord help me to pay it forward.
Isaiah 55: 8-9 NKJV
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Luke 11: 9-13 AMP
“So I say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking [persistently], receives; and he who keeps on seeking [persistently], finds; and to him who keeps on knocking [persistently], the door will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you, then, being evil [that is, sinful by nature], know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!”
Jeremiah 29: 11-13 NKJV
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.