Daddy

I have been reading this week about the orphan trains. They ran from 1854 to 1927 and helped homeless and orphaned children from the cities such as New York City and Chicago. The children were put on trains and taken west. Along the way, they stopped and people that were interested in adopting a child met the trains. Many couples wanted a boy to work the farm or a girl to help in the house. They were placed for free and the parents were expected to treat the child like one of their own family. They were expected to give the children food, clothing and schooling, and $100 on their 21^st birthday. In some cases this was a great arrangement for both the parents and the children, but sometimes the children had their physical needs met, but no sense of love and care.

In contrast I was watching the babies that around me at church this week. One little boy was on the platform with his dad. He snuggled into his shoulder. He mugged to the worship team behind them and he tried his best to burrow into his dad’s chest. He was completely at ease in a church he had never been in before. A little girl was standing in front of the seats and started crying. She climbed up in her mother’s lap and put her head down on mom’s shoulder. Then she turned around and leaned back against her mom’s chest as mom rocked her back and forth. Pretty soon, her tears were forgotten and she was laughing.

hve been the young mom and I know that babies challenge us on our most patient days, but Jesus tells us to be like little children. A friend prayed for me this week that I would see God not just as Father, but as Daddy. God as Father is my provider but is very concerned with how I behave. God as Daddy is someone I can burrow into and rest on for the sheer joy of being with Him. God as Father is God who paid the price for my sins. God as Daddy is God who sees my hurts and my victories. I can come running to him when I am crying and he comforts me and sings over me.

I am not as familiar with God as Daddy, but I want to be. I watched my mother when she was sick cry to that God and tell him how she loved him. She told him that she would love to stay with us and watch the baby grow up, but if he wanted her to come home, that was fine too.

Romans 8:15 tells us “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father.” I learned that Abba is the term that Jewish children use for their Daddies.

1 John 3:1 tells us more about this relationship. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Children stand to inherit from their fathers and we are told that we have this honor. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:17.

So many other verses tell us about our adoption by God, but let these whet your appetite to learn more about this Abba Father.