During our pastoral visit, Yancy and Jamey prayed for Jesus to give me a greater clarity of God the Father’s heart for me and for the fatherless of Thailand. One need look no further than our dinner table to recognize the significance of this prayer. By God’s sovereign providence Jak sits (at least, sitting is the goal) at a table where he is loved, included and supported by a mother, two siblings and a father. Explicating just cause concerning the merits of our family and our rightful enjoyment of this tan ball of energy is futile. Efforts at logic detailing Jak’s fortunate grafting in to our family tree come up empty. By grace Jak was providentially and sovereignly placed into our family. There is no other good explanation. How else might I say it? God’s sovereign desire was that Jak would have a father who would reflect the heart of his true Father in Heaven. I am almost embarrassed to say it. When Jak is loved, with great joy, by his earthly father, this is exactly what God the Eternally Great Father meant for Jak. And that is God’s desire for each Thai person who has never experienced a father who loves him or her.
But you say, “What about the Jaks out there who remain orphans? What about the Jaks out there with a father who will not or cannot show concern or affection toward their sons or daughters? What about the Jaks who only receive abuse from their fathers?” Just as I do not understand the grace that provided Jak with a physical manifestation of the Father God’s heart, I, painfully at times, do not understand the brokenness that causes so many to experience the lack of a loving father in their home. But this I call to mind… the Father runs to greet the wayward younger son. He also goes out to talk patiently with the indignant older brother. The Father is “always working,” and He comes down to make it clear to the crowd that His son is beloved and a pleasure to his Father. And yes, the Father turns His face from His beloved “first born” so that all His children might experience His merciful, affectionate heart. When Jesus reveals to me His Father, I become overwhelmingly confident in the Father’s plan that all His children might receive His love. And not just through redemption as children of God, but also through the warmth in a home from a physical father.
I often ask kids in the neighborhood about their dads. Some are in Bangkok working, many are dead, and some have just left their families permanently. Probably about 1 in 4 has a Dad that they live with. At first I was just staggered by this statistic. I mean what can you do about this besides weep? Now I am looking at Jak and taking great faith and confidence in the heart of his Father. I am believing that God is graciously working on behalf of these kids and all people in Thailand who feel empty when they think of their father or lack of father. I believe that He is going to use a physical person to come into their lives and show them their Heavenly Father by loving them like their father couldn’t. This is the scariest part…I believe that physical person is going to look a lot like you and maybe something like me! This is plan A; there is no plan B.
Jesus came into a Roman dominated world where major population groups were taken from their homes and divided up into Roman homes as slaves. Children born in these homes were not children but slaves. As slaves, they were treated as property and sent wherever necessary. For this and other reasons, a great portion of the populace in Jesus’ time was fatherless. Enter Jesus. He won’t shut up about His father. Stranger still, he is saying His father is their father too. He makes the audacious statement, get this, “If you have seen me you have seen your Father,” and then reaches out, with a “human flesh” hand, and touches them. He touched them! He reaches out with the Father’s love, and they were never the same. Who could help but sharing the love of their Father?
So I look at Jak, and I see our mandate. Whoever you are and whomever you are with, Jesus wants to use you to be the hand of the loving Father in this fatherless world. “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”
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