God Is A Father To The Fatherless Ps. 68: 5-6

Felt a need to share a ‘belated’ Fathers day post.   Really believe the Lord wanted this message out-especially to those who’s Fathers day may have been different than what others have experienced.

Reading and viewing all the neat posts on Fathers day recently was so enjoyable.   Reliving the family history, honoring all the hard work, trials and dedication our Fathers invested in our lives.   Fathers day-mothers day-appreciating them is just a small way of saying-we love you and can’t thank you enough.

For many, however, seeing all the close-knit families celebrating each other, sharing their lives together-having someone to always reach out to…brings a true sadness to their heart.   Some people simply do not have a family to reach out to.

This post is dedicated especially to you.   In God’s eyes, He has a special place in His family for you.   In fact, we will see how the Word explains He does not want you to experience your walk alone.   He has indeed shared in your situation so He could be a comfort to you, be a friend and say  ‘You do not have to go through life without a family, I know exactly what you are going through and you will not be alone… I will share this time with you.’

The Promise

Psalm 68:5-6  The God who is in his holy dwelling place is the Father of the fatherless and the defender of widows. ⁶  God places lonely people in families. He leads prisoners out of prison into productive lives…

Let’s find out how the Lord can be a Father to those who never had a dad… and how He can place us in families when-for some-they seem to be very distant.

Psalm 113:9  He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.

How can a God in heaven put a childless woman in a ‘happy family’ with children?

We can begin to understand by looking at the lives of many who do not have close families, and how the Lord’s relationships on earth shared the same rejection as some who are now reading this post.

The Experience

So many have quietly commented about their situation.   They don’t want to hinder other families celebrating their lives together…but in a trusted moment of sharing their feelings, they honestly mention that family holidays are so painful to them.   It could be a dad who sits alone while other families visit on Father’s day, no card, phone call…just a –you don’t mean that much to me.   A wife who was never able to have children…while attending ‘another’ baby dedication.   A child, who had a father and mother, but was soo abusive-they have been unable to reach out to them.   A sibling who for whatever reason, was labeled as the ‘black sheep’ and they have learned to shy away from being part of their family.

If you keep reading, I truly believe you will be amazed at what God chose to do…in order to make you feel like you are truly special-He proved it to you and promises you a family with greater joy than the families that we can find on earth.

Jesus was rejected by the most

important people in His life  

His People Rejected Him

Matthew 23:37   O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Jesus came to take away the sins of the entire world Jn. 3:16, but He would start with the Jewish people.

Romans 1:16   For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

 If only the leadership rejected Him, the results might have been different.   Tragically, however, the people also refused His call and cried out for His execution.  

 Luke 23:15-24   Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate (the Roman prefect of Judaea) appealed to them again. ²¹  But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”  ²²  For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.” ²³  But with loud shouts, they (the Jewish people) insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. ²⁴  So Pilate decided to grant their demand.

His Apostles fled from Him

Matthew 26:47-56  While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. ⁵⁰  Jesus replied, “Do what you came for… Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him… ⁵³  Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁶  But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

We need to remember, Jesus could have chosen to stop the arrest (could I have not sent a legion of angles vs. 53).   He saw all of His disciples flee, and went to His execution alone vs. 56.

His Own Family Rejected Him

For many Christians, the next few verses may not only surprise you, but might even cause us to ‘rethink’ the character of the Lord’s own family.  Yes, after the Lord’s death and resurrection, His mother, brothers and other siblings were great men and women of God.  The fact remains however-at the time of Jesus’ ministry- there were severe family issues that caused Him to be rejected by them.

For a time… 

– Jesus was the insane outcast

Mark 3:20-21  Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered. ²¹  When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Jesus explains to us who He considers family  a few verses later…let’s remember this scriptures-we will use them later-for they have a special meaning for us.

Mark 3:33-35   “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. ³⁴  Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

-Jesus was the older brother whose younger siblings could care less about His personal safety.

John 7:1-10  After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. …³  Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. ⁵ For even his own brothers did not believe in him. (They did care not about His ministry, or His purpose for mankind, sadly, they wanted to get rid of their problem)⁶  Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; (meaning His sacrifice at the cross)

While these verses do not explain the exact intentions of the Lord’s brothers, without a doubt they knew the Jewish leaders hated Jesus and He was in serious danger.   Having Jesus’ family intentionally try to deceive Him by sending Him to the enemy’s camp in Judea-must have been one of the most painful times in the Lord’s life.  

The father Joseph is not mentioned in the Lord’s adult life, so it appears from the scriptures above the family brothers might have been in a total rejection mode, without guidance and completely ready to reject and disown Jesus.   This happened to more than one godly sibling, Jacobs son Joseph experienced a similar fate.  Gen. 37:17-19. 

Mark 6:4   But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.

-An outcast to all of us.  Before we could be drawn by the Spirit of God to make our choice to receive Jesus, we rejected Him with our sin nature. 

John 6:44   “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

1 John 4:19  We love Him, because He first loved us.

The Father did not spare His Son the fate of a Terribly Rejected life.  

Ish. 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Psalm 22:6-7   But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. ⁷  All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.  (During Jesus life and at the cross)  Mk. 10:34, Lk. 16:14

Jesus was Rejected by His Own Heavenly Father!

Let’s realize the magnitude of what truly happened.   If we grew up with a father who was abusive,  or who was in rejection mode from day one…it might be a little easier to accept the fact that our earthly father was just a terrible father, plain and simple!

If however, our Father was loving-or in Christ’s case, Divine Absolute Love…that we have a relationship with…having our father (or mother) reject us would be the most painful rejection in our lives-or with Jesus, His eternal life.

Jesus however-decided to coexist with man…and as  Heb. 1 and Heb. 2  explains-He humbled Himself and had to become a man…in order to take away man’s sins on the cross.  See How much does God love us?

2 Corinthians 5:21  God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

Not only did Jesus experience His Father’s rejection-but also the Father’s wrath…incredible.   The Father’s wrath for ‘our sin’ was poured out on His Son.  He was able to take our sins because He could now officially represent man.    Even though Jesus did not sin, He knew the horror of the punishment for our sin from the Father…because He took sin ‘for us’.

Jn. 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

There has been no greater sacrifice-than what happened on the cross- when the horrors of sin from the Father’s wrath were poured out on His only Son.

Ish. 53:4 Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken (original Hebrew-slayed) by God (His Own Heavenly Father), struck down and afflicted.

Though it was temporary,  Jesus knew painful rejection and wrath from His own Father, because of our sin.   Having the curse of the world’s sin poured out on Jesus,  resulted in a Divine rejection that would be devastating.  More than you and I could ever begin to imagine-or experience in any number of lifetimes.  See How much does God love us. 

Matthew 27:46   And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Why was this difficult life given to Jesus?

BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FOR US

He wanted you and me to know, whatever trial we are going through, you would not have to bear it alone.   You can always have Him at your side, and you will always know He chose to bear the same suffering and rejection that you are going through.

Hebrews 4:15   We have a chief priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He was tested in every way that we are, but he didn’t sin. 1 Cor. 10:13.

The Lord ‘planned’ a life of trials for Jesus that would cover every area of trials we struggle with on earth.   He knew, there would be times when Jesus would whisper to us- I have shared in your pain, and we can walk together through this-and come out whole together.

Psalm 34:18   The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

If Jesus was not who He said He was, He simply would be an incredible historical figure.   We know Him to be alive however, on a throne in heaven and is able to come close in times of need.

Psalm 145:18   The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

Jeremiah 23:23″Am I a God who is near,” declares the LORD, “And not a God far off.”

When we receive Him into our lives, there will times when His love literally touches us in a meaningful and personal way.   One of the greatest experiences in a Christians’s life is when…He speaks to us in our difficulties and says-  I love you sooo much-I chose a life where my people, friends, my family-and even My own Heavenly Father at one time rejected Me.   You will not go through this alone, I am at your side-I went through this ‘with you’.  I share this rejection ‘with you’ so you would not experience it alone.   I went through My rejection, so I could speak to you now and literally share your grief –and with My love, turn it into joy

Ps. 30:11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness

Psalm 126:5   Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.

You will never be alone, I will never leave you or forsake you Heb. 13:5

How?

How does God create a family if we do not have one?

Galatians 3:26   For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

The same standard that can cause us to be so heavily influenced by the actions of our father and mother…is applied to our heavenly Father-except with absolute abundance.

It does not take a counseling degree to realize a child looks up to their parents-they can set the standard of whether a child is felt to be valued and important or whether they feel inferior…leaving them empty inside.  If the latter is true, they will be in search of self fulfillment-many times at a cost of negative influences.   Sadly, tragically, we see examples of this-almost on a daily basis.

This cycle is broken if a child-young adult or ‘grown-up’ discovers their value-and realizes their parental authority they thought to be the standard of truth was completely wrong.   The ‘truth to the matter is’ we have value by an authority greater than dysfunctional parents  (or whatever term we may apply to parents who left trauma in their children’s lives).

In simple terms, the highest Authority wins, the One who holds the ‘I Am’ the God of truth Ex. 3:14– card’ 🙂

If the One who has the Absolute Truth is the same One who has absolute Authority…and also the same One who has proved His love to you in the most incredible way…then the road to emotional and spiritual healing cannot be hindered.  Please see articles on how God has proved His love for us-it will blow us away.  See Gods Love   See Finding Truth.    The short of it is…when we start to come in contact with an Almighty God who loves us-all the crazies on this earth don’t get under our skin in quite the same way as before.  We simply know the ‘Truth’ and that ‘Truth’ is alive-saying we are infinitely valuable to Him.

We enter into a family realm with healing that starts on earth and will be completed in heaven-lasting for all eternity.

But What About On Earth, Our Lives Now! 

Glad you asked  

Ish. 54:1 “Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD.   Gal. 4:27

1 Corinthians 4:15 For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

As mentioned above, when we receive the Lord into our lives, we become sons and daughters of the living God and enter into an eternal family in absolute love and acceptance.   There will come a time when we will fully know our God, but as important, we will fully know our uniquely designed and gifted personality 2 Cor. 5:8.   The incredibly exciting part is this…we can begin to realize this truth now!  How special each and every part of our personality truly is.

1 Corinthians 13:12  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see (God)  face to face.  Now I know (God) in part; then I shall know (God) fully, even as I am fully known.   (As His children, we begin to realize how beautiful each and every aspect of our personality truly is -created by God).  

Psalm 23:4-6  … Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me…My cup (of joy and blessings) overflows. ⁶  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

 Psalm 139:14  I will give thanks to you because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made. Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this.

Having a heart that is receiving more of God’s spiritual love will cause us to reach out to others needing this love (my cup-of joy and blessings-overflows-above).   We will indeed begin to help others, the inherited sons, daughters, brothers sisters etc. They can truly become our family.  Remember the verses above we were going to use later.   Now they come to into relevance.

Mark 3:33-35   “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. ³⁴  Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

It does not matter the ‘biology’ of the people, but the ‘heart’ of the people.   We have seen sooo many leaders-whose past were nothing short of a disaster, turn their lives around and are now devoted to being ‘parents’ to others in need.   They have numerous daughters, sons, brothers and sisters…building relationships that when bonded in the love of God will begin on earth but will last for eternity-above verses.

It was not in the will of the Father to have His Son receive the blessing of biological children.   This, however, did not stop Jesus from having an eternal family that will have greater love than anything we could desire or ‘miss’ on earth.

 Is. 53:10  “Yet the LORD was willing to crush Him (His sacrifice for us on the cross), and He made Him suffer. Although you make His soul an offering for sin, He will see His offspring, and he will prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will triumph in His hand.

We can indeed become the family of the most High God 🙂

The Healing Path

The process is simple

-Absolute love cannot force a relationship, Truth has to enter through invitation, by inviting God into our hearts and lives.   Please see the links below.

-If you already know the Lord, get strong in Him, sincerely walk in His ways.   Find a fellowship (church)  of other believers is vital, read His word…here are some articles that can help- See Finding Fellowship and Friendship  link,  General article  link

-As you get close to the Lord, strong in Him, He will use the light in you to have His children bond to you with a great heavenly love.

Ps. 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand. 

Relationships that will last not only a lifetime but eternally.   He truly is a Father of the Fatherless and can make the childless into a parent.

Knowing God, See Link 1, link 2, Link 3 

Knowing Gods Love, See  Link 

Our Walk with God  See Link 1, Link 2 

God bless you as you pursue His truth.