Navigating the Unknown

Of all that we are tempted to fear, the unknown ranks rather highly on almost any one's list. Even the exceptionally wealthy tend to worry - they worry whether someone they trust with their money might undermine them, or whether a mistake made somewhere along the way will bring everything crashing down.

Ultimately, money cannot provide the cure for worry. Indeed, nothing that man can produce, generate, or manipulate can solve the sin of worry.

In recent days, I've found myself wondering what the future will hold for Elizabeth. Will she be a missionary in a country where there is little or no religious freedom? Will she be a scholar who makes a persuasive case for Christianity among non-Christian academicians? Will she be a lawyer who stands on the front lines of protecting Christians who are seeing their First-Amendment rights eroded at a disturbing and quickening pace? Will she be a wife to a devoted, Christian husband one day? Will she be a mother? What will her life be like?

At times, my curiosity regarding the future can leak into worry. For all the positive things that Elizabeth might do, there are equally threatening roads on which she might journey . . . .

What is a father to do?!? The culture seems more depraved than ever; people of the church are tolerating more and more paganism in their daily lives; and no one seems very excited about the gospel. Is it all hopeless? Why shouldn't I worry?!

The reason I should not worry is because God has given us a two-fold plan for marching boldly into the unknown: 1) obedience and 2) faith.

It's that simple. God places the primary responsibility of raising up godly children on the family. In Deuteronomy 6:4-8, we read, "Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." My former pastor at Providence, David Horner, put it this way, "the church cannot produce what the family neglects." In other words, you cannot expect a few hours at church every week to compensate for dozens of hours of spiritual neglect inside your home.

So, if I want to raise a godly daughter, I must first obey Him. I must be sure this is a house where Jesus is glorified and His Word is read. To date, Elizabeth has been through Colossians, Philippians, 1 Samuel 1-3, and Mark 1-4.

Secondly, I must trust God. This trust is expressed in two ways. First, I trust that God will not lead me astray with His commands; that when I obey - He is taking me down the right path one step at a time. He is the "light unto my path," but He does not always show me the whole path. Second, I simply have a quiet confidence in the Lord. I can look back and see how he has proven Himself faithful over and over again, and I know that He will fulfill His Word.

So, how do I raise this precious blessing from God? I'm going to take responsibility for training up Elizabeth in the Word, and I'm going to believe God with the intent that He receive all the glory from my parenting and from Elizabeth's life. God, may you be glorified in this house.

Gazing on the Father

In Psalm 27:4, King David declared, "I have asked one thing from the LORD; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the LORD and seeking [Him] in His temple (HCSB).

He says just a few verses later, "Lord, I will seek Your face" (v. 8b, HCSB).

The rest of this Psalm tells us that God is the Provider of salvation and Protector in the face of various trials for those who place their trust in Him.

So, what do God's salvation and His protection have to do with gazing upon His beauty and seeking His face? Can't we just be very clinical about our salvation, declare that it is, and move on? Why all this gushy gazing on the Father stuff?

Enter Elizabeth.

One of the earliest joys of fatherhood has been sitting with Elizabeth on my lap as she gazes up at my face and inspects it with a look of interest, amazement, respect, awe, and wonder all wrapped up into one package. She sits for rather extended periods of time and looks at me in such a way that I know she is deriving great satisfaction from simply looking at me.

One day, as Elizabeth sat looking at me in silent wonder, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Psalm 27 and gave me this thought, "when's the last time you gazed on your Father like that? When's the last time you looked on His face just because you wanted to know Him more, just because you wanted to know what He was thinking, and to somehow be able to tell Him how much you loved Him even in your helpless state? . . . When?"

Though she cannot articulate why she looks upon me with such an amazingly curious face, I'd like to suggest that my face has become a constant for her in a world that seems to change everyday - a sign of security, a sign of provision . . . of protection. When she's with her father (yes, her mother too!), she is kept warm, she is changed, she is put to sleep, she is fed, and etc. She may not remember yesterday's sleeping and feeding schedule, but she remembers her daddy, and when daddy is there - it's all going to be okay.

So, when is the last time you looked upon the Father like your life depended upon Him? Like you love Him? When is the last time you sat in quiet awe of the fact that the Holy God of the Universe smiles back on His children when they gaze upon Him? My heart swells with pride when Elizabeth gazes into My eyes, and the Father surely delights in His children who seek His face.

For those who are followers of Christ, we have constant access to the Father through our eternal mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ (Heb 10:19 - 20). No matter what life may bring, we can always gaze upon our Father . . . we can open His Holy Word and seek His face. There is no salvation and there is no protection worth having found anywhere else.

Lest anyone think I am suggesting that I will be as good a father to Elizabeth as the LORD, consider a comparison that David makes in verse 10. He writes, "Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD cares for me."

Elizabeth has her greatest earthly fan in her father and mother, but we look forward to the day that she truly gazes upon the Heavenly Father for the first of an infininte number of times as she calls upon His Son to save her for eternity and to deliver her from trouble.

In both the joys and trials of life, may we be quick to gaze upon the Father.

THE ABC SONG

From almost the time that Elizabeth was no bigger than the period at the end of this sentence, I've been singing the ABC's to Elizabeth as well as "Jesus Loves Me." While in utero, I always closed out the ABC song with something like this, "in XX more weeks you'll be here with Daa-dee."

Once Elizabeth arrived, I changed it up a bit and went with, "some day soon you'll be singing with Daa-dee." Well, yesterday, November 26 was "some day soon." Of course, she wasn't saying the letters, but she was clearly singing along with me, and it was such a hoot!

I just hope that she's taking some of this in and that we're as much fun for her as she is for us. Enjoy Elizabeth's first audition; she's more in tune than her dad.