Reply To: Knowing God, Chapters 19 & 20

I love how the author points out that even if our earthly fathers have been non-existent or failed in many ways – that God does not leave us to guess what fatherhood looks like. That even if we didn’t experience a good father growing up – in God’s family that is not the case. We can find security and stability in His steadfast love for us. A love that never throws us away once we are His.

Adoption is such a gift. It makes total sense to me that adoption is the “highest privilege that the gospel offers”. I worked for an adoption agency for six years, and there is something so amazing and beautiful about adoption because it involves choice. The parents choose to make a child part of their family. Thinking about how in Ephesians it reminds us that God chose us in Him before the creation of the world. Boggles my mind. The author goes on to state “to be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater”.

I think it’s a very simple truth that no matter what kind of guidance you think you’ve received – if it is the opposite of what the bible says – it is not the right path to follow. God would never send us/guide us on a path that contradicts what is in His word. I also think that it is greatly important as a Christian to have at least one person you can ask advice from who is bold enough to speak the truth in love to you even if it is difficult. I’m glad that the author listed this as one of the pitfalls because I think it’s not talked about enough. One of the most encouraging things from this chapter for me is that if I still miss the mark on going down the right road – God is always good and will set me back on the right path. “Slippings and strayings will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God’s promise; this is how good He is.”