The Book Study - Chapter 2

Previous posts:
The book study
Chapter 1





"In My Father's House", by Mary Kassian.

You can read more about the book here.






-------------------------------

Part 1: The Father Relationship

Chapter 2: God's Father Relationships

-------------------------------

This chapter begins with Kassian telling the story of a child who was conceived unbeknownst to the biological father. The mother gave the child up for the adoption and shortly after this, the biological father found out he had fathered a child and then began to sue for custody of his daughter. After a 3 1/2 year court battle, the biological father was awarded custody. On one side you had the heart-wrenching moment of knowing the child was being taken away from her adoptive father, the only one she had known from birth, and on the other side, the joyous tears of the biological father who had fought so hard to raise her as his own. This then raises the question, who really is the father? Is it the one who raised and nurtured her on a daily basis, or is it the one who helped give her life? No one would really argue that both examples can be considered her father. And so, it is with this example that Kassian introduces this chapter and the four different types of relationship in which the Bible teaches that God is Father.

Father of Creation

from page 12:

Without the Creator there would be no life, no existence, and no family of mankind.

In Malachi 2:10 the prophet asks, "Have we not one Father? Has not one God created us?"

This section was clear to me in the sense that we all came into existence in some way, form, and fashion, and thus we all have been fathered by "the Creator".

Father of Israel

The following are exerpts from this header in the book, but my own knowledge of scripture and bible history is not extensive enough for me to really know how or what I think about the things she talks about in this section.

from page 17:

God's second fatherhood relationship is his relationship to his convenant nation, the Jews.

"I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people. . . . For I am a Father to Israel" (Jer. 31:1, 9). Over and over again the children of Israel were challenged to recognize and respond to this family relationship.

"God's father relatinship with the nation of Israel foreshadowed the time when people from all nations would enter into an adoptive relationship with him.

Father of Jesus

from page 17:

God the Father and God the son have a unique relationship. Jesus, who exists eternally, is the Father's "only begotten Son" (John 3:16); His "first born" (Heb. 1:6). The two relate as Father and Son and yet are equal, both being fully God (Phil. 2:6; Heb. 1:8-9).

In more than 100 references to God as "Father" in the Gospel of John, the overwhelming majority specifically refer to him as the Father of Jesus. The exclusiveness of their relationship is reinforced by the fact that Jesus never coupled himself with others, even his disciples, as being sons of God. He never referred to God as "our" Father, including himself in the "our". Instead, he was careful to differentiate between his own sonship and the sonship of his disciples.

Father of Adopted Children

from page 18:

Jesus redeemed us so that we might be adopted into God's family and relate to God as our own Father.

Adoption, as understood in the Greco-Roman world, was a legal institution whereby one could adopt a child and give that child all the rights and privileges of a naturally born child and give that child all the rights and privileges of a naturally born child. It meant a legal change of status from one family identity and inheritance to another.

Through Jesus' sacrifice, God legally changes our status so that he is our adoptive Father and we are his children. This is the redemptive relationship with God all believers share.

-------------------------------

While I have been growing in my relationship and understanding of God as the ultimate "Father", I am still having trouble accepting His love and desire for me as his chosen daughter. Since the last chapter, I've been reflecting a bit on my relationship with my earthly father, and while it was not without love, it was without the true expression from him of knowing how desired and loved I was. There was a deep respect and 'knowing' that I belonged to my dad, but there was still always a distance there, a wondering of how he really felt and thought about me. And it is this perception that I've projected onto my view of God.

I've been wondering often how God could truly love me, despite all the bad choices I've made, the shameful thoughts and relationships in my past, and how he could desire me when there are so many other people who are 1) more "worthy" of his love, and 2) who are in worse situations than mine and who need His love more desperately than I do. However, the truth is that we are ALL worthy of His love. We are all deserving of His love. We are all desired deeply by Him. And we are all loved by Him more than we could ever imagine.

I think I am finally able to let go of a lot of my preconceived and current notions of God's love for me and there's this sudden awareness of the vulnerability I'm feeling as I let down my guard. Allowing Him to love me is more frightening in many ways because there's the knowing that He truly knows me more intimately than even my parents. There are so many parts of me that I see as less than good, that I'm not proud of, that I think are more negative than positive, and for Him to know these things and to still love me is unthinkable.

And then I had another realization one day. My relationship with God the Father is the ultimate example by which I am to model all earthly relationships. Since I have trouble believing God would love me, why would I believe that those around me could truly love me as well? And what about all those skeletons in the closet? I think a lot of people would think differently of me if they were shared, and to think that the Lord knows all of these things about me and still loves me is something I realized I need to accept. If I can't accept that God truly loves me in spite of such things, then how can I have a healthy, productive relationship in real life? How can I believe that anyone else around me could love and accept those things about me too?

It's complicated what I am thinking and feeling and musing over about in this chapter. All I can really say at this point is that I get the sense that I see God's hand in so many parts of my life and that trust I have in Him is building ever so slowly, moment by moment. I'm sensing His love for me more and more and because of that, my heart has been softening and I find myself wanting to be more vulnerable in His presence. I'm starting to acknowledge and accept His faithfulness to me and I can sense His joy in seeing me - his daughter - grow in the love that he provides.

So with that, I'll end this week's chapter study with another prayer.

Father God,

Thank you for bringing me through another week. My heart and burdens feel heavy when I think about all the areas I could change. It seems impossible for me to fully accept that you could love me so thoroughly and so intimately. I pray, Father, that you affirm in my heart and mind that I am your daughter and that despite all of my failings, that I am loved thoroughly and intimately by you. Father God, thank you for loving me even when my choices, thoughts, and feelings were/are less than Godly. Thank you, Lord, for opening the eyes of my heart and for drawing close to me as I am drawing nearer to you.

Amen

-------------------------------

Reference excerpts

page 18-19

Have you ever heard of an unplanned adoption?...Couples who have been unable to have biological children and who choose to adopt know what it is to long for a child. They know what it is to yearn to share their love. Their desire to love is so strong that they will take a child with a blemished past and a dubious future. ...This is just what the father does. He rescues orphans from despair and brings them into the warmth of his family. He planned for you, looked for you, found you, signed the papers, and brought you home.

My husband, Brent, could barely wait for our first child to be born. Every night he would caress my expanding belly and talk to the baby he could not yet see. Finally the time arrived! Our son was born, and the nurse gently placed the warm, wrinkly bundle of flesh into his father's waiting arms. Brent was overcome with inexpressible emotion: love joy, tenderness, pride. He was a father! Your heavenly Father chose you as his child before the foundation of the world. He did this because "he wanted to." This choice gave him much joy and pleasure (Eph. 1:4-6). Consider your Father God anticipating the time when you would be born again. The love, joy, tenderness, and pride of almighty God, your heavenly Father, was focused on you, his new adopted son or daughter.