Be Shaped :: Father :: He Protects

 When I was young, we lived for a time in Tulsa, which sees a relatively high number of tornadoes. During one particularly violent storm, the weather bureau declared an emergency for our neighborhood.

Mom was at work, while Dad was home with the kids. We didn’t have a basement, so he took us to the middle of the house, split us into groups and told us to lay on the floor in the doorways. He then took mattresses from our beds and laid them on top of us. It was like this that we waited for the storm to pass.

I remember laying under a mattress with my little brother. We couldn’t see much, but we could hear the radio and dad’s calming voice. I was too young to appreciate how serious the situation was, but I didn’t panic because Dad was in control.

Later, I heard my older brother and sisters talking about it. They had done the math and figured out that Dad did not have a doorway or a mattress for shelter. Throughout the whole ordeal, he stood in between doorways as he watched over and prayed for the safety of his kids.

In the midst of a storm, five kids needed protection and comfort. Dad lovingly met those needs in a way that only he could.

I’d like to say he’s a hero (because he is!), but he did what any sane parent would do. Parents protect their kids. That’s how it’s supposed to be, and when it doesn’t happen, we rightfully reject that kind of neglect as utterly abhorrent.

Hopefully, the comparison to God’s fatherly, protective nature is obvious. We’ve already shown that God has a special place in His heart for those who need mercy and for those who show mercy. That’s a given.

But when we focus on the single greatest display of mercy in history (salvation), we can see the focal point of everything that God seeks to accomplish.

Salvation is necessary because, without it, our situation would be hopelessly grim. There is no tenable solution to the problem of sin apart from God. His most cherished creatures were in grave danger, and He did what a father does. In love and in full cooperation with His Son, He met our otherwise unmeetable need.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16

Because of what He did, it became possible for us to experience a full relationship with Him. When we accept Christ as Savior, we are made alive in Him and placed into His family. This gift of new life comes from God, and it is an expression of His great love and abundant mercy.

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. ~ Ephesians 2:4-5

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy … ~ Titus 3:4‑5

God met our greatest need because He is a perfect Father who values our safety over His own comfort.

Open Hands, pages 108-110