This devotional was written by Miriam Corringham, and it was inspired by the lyrics of the song “The Name” by Anadara Farmer. The lyrics are:
Abba Father,
Living water,
Shepherd servant and King.
Master teacher,
Lord and keeper,
Counsellor, Prince of Peace,
Almighty Creator,
Emmanuel, Saviour,
Adonai and the Rock
Hosanna Messiah,
Yahweh, Jehovah,
Alpha, Omega, God
Friend and healer
Christ Redeemer
Great is thy glorious name
Jesus
The name.
We sang this song at our church a couple of weeks ago. It is a song that I have known for a long time, and I have always liked the list that it gives of some of the Lord’s names. Jesus can be many things to us either all at the same time or one at a time. When you have need of Him to be that for you, Jesus is there. Either Master or Teacher, Friend or Healer. His name is great and He is our Rock in times of trouble our friend when we need a friend.
We were challenged to dwell on just one of these names and to think of it during the week. One of the names that jumps out at you for today. For me this was “Abba Father”.
Last year my earthly father passed away and I have struggled to come to terms with this. He had lived with us for a few years and I miss him tremendously. I don’t think I had ever realised what grief really was. My mother had died 13 years previously but had been very poorly for quite sometime before and so it was a release for her, from her pain and suffering. As a nurse, I had seen a lot of death and had always felt it was just a natural part of life and didn’t really understand other people’s grief. The death of my father has changed this and I realise that I probably wasn’t as sympathetic to other people as I should have been. I didn’t understand how deeply someone can grieve.
The phrase Abba Father is only found in the New Testament and then it is only 3 times. In Mark 14: 36 Jesus says “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Paul in Romans 8: 15 says “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.” And again in Galatians 4: 6 Paul says: “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
It appears that it is only fairly recently that this term has been considered more closely and seems to translate as a more intimate term than just Father and has been translated as more like “Daddy”. As I considered this in relation to my earthly father, I realised that although I had that intimate, close relationship with him, I can have an equally close or even closer relationship with my heavenly Father. After all, as Jesus says in Luke 11: 13 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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” How amazing is that? That the author and creator of the world desires to have an intimate relationship with us? In Zephaniah 3: 17 it says: “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing.” How great is our Father God who loves us so much that He rejoices and sings over us? The more you read and think about God as a Father, the closer you can feel to Him and the more amazed you become at being a part of His family.
This doesn’t mean that we should not come to God with reverence and fear but that we should also come to Him knowing that we have been adopted into His family and are His children. So we should respect Him in a similar way that we respect and honour our earthly father.
If you haven’t had that sort of relationship or any sort of relationship with your earthly father, I can see how it might be difficult to relate to this. But hopefully, in your life you have had someone who you respected and admired, who can give you an idea of how God can be a true father to you and become part of a huge family of His children and much, much more!
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