Intro
I’m sure many of you have heard the song Good Good Father by Chris Tomlin. The song does a good job capturing the heart of God as a loving Father. I’ve already briefly touched on God as Father in my post God the Father. I didn’t have time to go in depth on that, but now I’m ready to dive a little deeper into what it means for God to be our Father. In addition, I aim to hit upon another of His characteristics that I only briefly mentioned – His goodness. It’s hard to talk about God as Father without also talking about His goodness.
Fatherhood
The Bible refers to God as our father on a number of occasions. While the Old Testament tends to demonstrate the distance between man and God, there are still several references to God as the Father of the Jewish nation. For example, Isaiah 64:8 (NIV) says, “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” The Israelites certainly had this understanding, but the relationship wasn’t intimate. To many of them, He was more of a distant Father. Someone you see or talk to occasionally and dare not disappoint or upset in any way. Someone you respected with fear and trembling.
However, the distance between Israel and God was Israel’s doing. God had a more intimate view of their relationship. The first few verses of Hosea chapter 11 records God saying He “loved him [Israel] and out of Egypt I called my son”, “taught Ephraim to walk”, “healed them”, “led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love”, and He “bent down to feed them”. Jeremiah 31:9 (NIV) says, “I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.” God declared Himself to be Israel’s father – and a very loving father at that – even though Israel itself didn’t share the same view. Hosea 11 also notes how Israel kept going astray and didn’t acknowledge what God was doing in their midst. And yet God kept loving them. And that’s how God treats us as Christians. With perfect love.
Abba Father
And when Jesus came, He doubled down on God as father. He called God His Father on numerous occasions using the deeply intimate word “Abba” (Daddy). One such example is in Mark 14:36 (NIV), “‘Abba, Father,’ he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” In one of Jesus’ most difficult moments, He cries out to God with the most intimate word. But even when all was going well, Jesus used that same term. And taking it a step farther, Jesus taught His disciples to pray to God using the phrase “Our Father…”. I’m sure you are all now mentally reciting the Lord’s prayer. In addition, Jesus says multiple times throughout the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) the phrase “your Father” when referring to God. Clearly Jesus wanted us to understand and know God as our Father.
And not just any father. A good father. Matthew 7:11, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (NIV). Matthew 6 gives two other examples about our “Father in heaven” caring about our basic needs – clothing and food. He tells us not be worried about those things because God will take care of us. And this is the perfect segway into the second half of this post.
Goodness
There’s a phrase I remember hearing as a kid and later as a young adult when I would go to Lifest, the MC of the festival (Peder Eide) would say “God is good” and wait for the crowed to respond, “All the time”, then “All the time”, “God is good.” Numerous songs talk about how good God is and people will say the phrase “God is good” over and over again.
And yet, there are people who doubt that. Does the Bible really claim that God is good? Yes! I referenced the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says that God will supply our needs and gives good gifts to His children. But even more than that, we find it all over the Psalms. Here are a couple of examples from the NIV: Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” and Psalm 31:19, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
In addition to the Psalms, when King David appointed Levites to minister before the Ark, he gave them words to praise the Lord with. And the entire passage 1 Chronicles 16:8-36 is just praising the Lord for how good He is and how He is worthy of praise and is their deliverer, etc. The Israelites knew what it meant for God to be deliverer. Just read the account of the Exodus and the worship service that occurred after the crossing at the Red Sea. And as mentioned before, the Psalms are loaded with similar songs of praise to God for His goodness. Not just all the good things He has done for the people, but simply for His goodness.
God’s Nature
God doesn’t just do good deeds. Goodness is a part of the nature of God. God is good. It’s impossible for God to do anything evil. I do recognize that there is lots of evil in the world. But I also firmly believe that God did not, does not, and will not cause any of that evil. But there are many people who question the existence of evil, “If God is so good, why is there evil in the world?” And this is a good question that deserves a thorough answer. Which I cannot give here in this post. I plan on covering that question when I address the related question of evil and the sovereignty of God. As you’ll see there, the issues of God’s goodness, His sovereignty, and the existence of evil in the world, are all tightly related.
Wrapping Up
I sure hope and pray that you see how much God loves you as a good father loves his children. I know that earthly fathers disappoint us, and some are downright terrible to their children. My goal with this post was to encourage you that God isn’t and will never be that kind of father. He perfectly loves you and has been and always will be good to you.
A Time to Remember
Earlier in this post I mentioned Peder Eide, the MC of the Lifest Grandstand. As I was working on this post, I needed to confirm the spelling of Peder’s name and discovered that he passed away April 26, 2024 (this is a very good read on the kind of man Peder was – the image of him on stage is from Lifest). It’s a very sad thing to hear and Lifest will never be the same. Peder was fun to listen to as a MC, but he was also a musician. Two of his songs that I know are both songs that fit right in with this post’s twin themes of God’s goodness and His fatherhood: “Taste and See” (based on Psalm 34:8) and “Abba, I belong to You”. Because of that, I’m dedicating this post to Peder Eide, I know that you are in Heaven worshipping before Abba, Father God.