Yahweh Our Father
Psalm 103:2-6, 8-13, 17-18
During a mission trip to an unreached people group in South America, we learned that this people group believed in a “creator god.” However, they did not believe that they could have a relationship with him. He was distant, far away, never to interact with his people. In last week’s lesson, we learned about Yahweh, the great I Am, the sovereign, unchangeable, powerful God. In this week’s passage, we see Yahweh as Father – loving and compassionate.
In verses 2-6, David praised God for all that He had done – for His forgiveness, His healing, for His redemption, and for satisfying His people. Regardless of the relationships we have with our own fathers, we can trust and depend on our Heavenly Father. We know that He loved, showed compassion to, and forgave individuals in the past. As we come to Him in repentance, we can trust Him to forgive us now. He forgives us because He loves us, not because of anything we have done.
In the next set of verses, the characteristics of a loving Father are recounted. We see that though our Father loves us, He expects obedience from us, and when we do not obey, He becomes angry. What great assurance to know that He does not stay angry! How blessed we are to have a relationship with a Father whose love surpasses anything we can say or do. This does not give us a “get out of jail free” card. Rather, it should move us to live in a way that would not stir God to anger, all the time knowing that when we do fail to live up to God’s expectations, we simply have to go to Him and ask for His forgiveness, which is given completely. How different that is from other relationships – even those with people whom we love and who love us!
In the last set of verses, David compares God’s love to that of a father, but he tells us that God’s compassion and everlasting (eternal, forever) love is for those who fear Him. This is not the traditional meaning of fear, but rather is reverence and respect for God, an acknowledgement of all that He is. This respect leads to obedience of all that God has commanded us. Our respectful, obedient relationship with God leads to an eternal loving, forgiving relationship with Him.
This passage gives us a blueprint or model for the relationship that earthly fathers (and mothers) should have with their children – an expectation of respect and obedience; everlasting love and compassion; and forgiveness offered when children fail to meet those expectations and repent.
Register– Lessons in the BSL series for the winter quarter are being written by Laurie Register, executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union, SCBC.