This Is My Father's World

Father’s Day and Trinity Sunday

Let the Fields Rejoice

“Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein. “-1 Chronicles 16:32

Seas roar and its more than a metaphor

Fields rejoice and somehow find their voice.

All therein becomes our kin in the symphony of praise.

Nature sings. Each creature brings the offerings of worship.
Mountains and hills shout. Volcanoes erupt. Every living thing and every inanimate object joins the mighty chorus that announces the glory of God.

Fields rejoice.

Imagine that. When the first indicators of spring erupt from the earth, they join in a dance of joy. The colors and the shapes all imitate and reflect the essential nature given to them as a tiny piece of God’s revelation of Himself through creation.

“All nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres. This is my Father’s world.” — Maltbie D. Babcock

Sound, color, even thought can be described in the language of frequency, cycles per unit in a period of time. That is physics and when life enters in, it is biology. But when the spirit enters in, it is life and worship.

I am no expert in the sciences and no one is an expert in the things of the spirit.

“The wind bloweth where it listeth …” — John 3:8

Jesus said it is that way with those born of the Spirit.
We are not experts, but we are participants and observers.
We are participants in rejoicing with the fields that are coming to life right now.

We are invited into the chorus and symphony of color, sound, and spirit.

Babcock continues:

“This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.”

As Short to Share

The Guide

“…he will guide you into all truth…” -John 16:13b

There were many things that Jesus could have said, wanted to say, and needed to say to the disciples, but it was not the right time. It was not the right time because they were not ready. They could not hear those things. They could not bear those things. They were not ready.

They would be ready later. They would be eager later. It would be the right time later. Their hearts would be prepared. Their lives would have been transformed later.

We must be ready to receive. We need a guide.

Jesus used more than one term to describe the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Truth. He is the Counselor, the Comforter, the Paraclete who walks beside us. He is the Spirit of the Living God. He is the wind that blows wherever it will.

Now, in this setting, he is a guide. His role is to guide Jesus’ disciples into truth. Not only is it truth where he guides, but Jesus says that it is all truth.

He transforms the hearts and minds of the disciples and prepares them to receive truth. Then he imparts truth to them. He guides. He directs. He counsels. He coaches. He illuminates. He helps them to apply that truth to their lives.

He answers questions we have never asked before.

Jesus says that he will not speak of himself. He has not come to exalt himself. He hears and he speaks. Furthermore, he shows us what is ahead of us.

The bottom line, Jesus tells the disciples, is that he glorifies God in the Son of God. He glorifies the Christ.

He does this, according to Jesus, by taking what is Jesus’, namely his words and thoughts, and revealing them to us. He shows us the things of God. He discloses God’s wonders. He unveils the riches of God’s Word. He frames God’s wisdom in a way that we can understand it and live it.

There is a partnership between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a partnership of fellowship. It is a partnership of truth. All that belongs to one is shared with the other.

When the Spirit comes, Jesus teaches, we will be ready. That is because the Holy Spirit invites us into the fellowship where we experience the Holy Trinity. In that fellowship, we are prepared, and we are ready to receive the things the Jesus wanted to teach his disciples, but they were not ready to hear.

That is the beauty and the wonder of Pentecost and Trinity Day, and it is why we celebrate.

More Father’s Day Thoughts

A Son About His Father’s Business

“And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,” — Luke 9:51

Every day, for Jesus, was Father’s Day. It was his Father’s Day. He was Son of God and Son of Man, twenty-four hours of every day and every day of the year.

Twice, here, he refers to himself as the Son of Man, a messianic designation in its historic use. The Son of Man is one who has been anointed by the Father in Heaven for a message and a mission on earth.

Because he identifies with humanity, he is not only the Son of God, but the Son of Man. There are two declarations he makes about this role:

First, the Son of Man does not come to destroy lives. He comes to save lives. The disciples think that fire from Heaven might be appropriate for those who reject the message, but Jesus thinks and acts like his Father from whom he has received his mission and message.

He comes to save, and he is on his way to Jerusalem to do just that.

The second is that the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

This, he iterated when a man professed that he would follow him anywhere and everywhere.

I am lower than a fox or a bird, he implies, because I have nowhere to sleep. All hope, salvation, and grace rested upon the life, testimony, death, and resurrection of a homeless prophet.

In these statements of intent, Jesus was observing the commandment to honor his Father to whom he taught us to pray as our Father, Dad, Abba, the perfect model for a perfect Father.

Another approaches and uses his father as an excuse to tarry, “And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.”

Again, Jesus affirms his Father’s will and call and “said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”

“And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

How then, did the Son of God and Son of Man honor his Father? By putting his hand to the plow and setting his face toward his destiny to do his Father’s will and proclaim his Kingdom.

Key of David

Isaiah 22:22 — And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, was about to get a key and that key would unlock the door to a function that would bring men and women into the very presence of God.

The scriptures will often tell us the name of a father when identifying his son. Here, the most important of the fathers was David. The prophetic word is a blessing one who will inherit a priestly responsibility and blessing that has been passed on since the time of David.

Cults have often misappropriated this concept, but they cannot rob it of its biblical significance.

In Revelation 3:7, Jesus holds the key. It returns, through a succession of natural and spiritual fathers to its source, the One to who it belongs with all authority and power.

It is the key of the covenant of God with His people.

God appointed Abram, changed his name to Abraham, and made him the father of many nations including a priestly nation. With that inheritance, the people of God have privileges and responsibilities to share the truth and love of God with all people.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the many sons of Jacob, and their descendants received a tradition and a stewardship. God’s call upon David was a preview of a Messianic Kingdom.

Papa Hilkiah, whose name means “my portion is Yah” (for Yahweh — God’s personal name) was a priest at during the days of King Josiah During his priesthood, he found a lost copy of the Book of the Law at the Temple in Jerusalem.

It can be supposed that his preaching influenced Josiah and a time of revival and renewal. It is a great heritage for a father to pass on to a son. What a profoundly significant key!

What sort of keys are you, fathers, placing in the hands of your sons and daughters that God can use to bring men and women face to face with Himself?

It is an awesome responsibility.

It is an awesome privilege and joy.

It is awesome to think of those who have preceded us and done this so well.

Happy Father’s Day.

A Father’s Blessing

“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” — Psalm 20:4

Did you receive a blessing from your father as a child or a young adult? Have you used your role as a father figure to bless a younger person? Have you ever wondered what sort of blessing you might like to receive or that you could give? Psalm 20:4 lays out a strong suggestion.

As astounding as it may sound, God, our Heavenly Father, desires to give us our desires, but only after He has transformed those desires and brought them into sync with His own. He wants our plans to succeed, especially when His Spirit has planted those plans in our hearts. The progression of the blessing is the prerequisite experience of the blanket prayer.

First there is distress, then divine deliverance and protection, followed by help, support, sacrifice, and offering. The transforming power of these events paves the way for success.

Psalm 20:5 says, “We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests.”

There have been many along the way that have cheered you on to spiritual success and growth. The have applauded God at your salvation, baptism, and first steps in discipleship.

They have encouraged you and embraced you along your pilgrimage. It is your turn to do this for another. You are called to be an encourager or a mentor or even a cheerleader.

You have the capacity to invest your life and prayers in someone other than yourself and to take great joy in his or her progress. Don’t let the opportunity slip away.

Psalm 20:6 says, “Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand.”

It is a serendipitous moment when we realize within ourselves that God does indeed save those upon whom His purposes rest. Jesus Christ is God’s anointed and all who are found in Him are heirs of God’s purposes, promises, and privileges. We suddenly discover that we can reinterpret every event in our lives in the newly discerned light of God’s eternal program in which we are included.

Live each day in the light of His promises and in the confidence of your secure position in His eternal family and take each opportunity God gives you to bless a young man or a young woman who is discovering his or her path in life.

(He) set his face to go to Jerusalem,” — Luke 9:51