Father to the Fatherless

“Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” (Psalm 27:10)

If you are fatherless – especially because your father abandoned you – then this message is for you. If you’ve known and still live with your father’s rejection – or, as in my case, the rejection of more than one father – then this message is for you.

My first abandoned me when I was four. The second adopted me when I was twelve, although to this day I don’t know why he did that. I can’t remember him ever saying a kind word to me or taking me around the shoulders and hugging me. He lived with us but was absent from us.

So, if you’re fatherless, then you know – as I know – the lingering sadness that floats through crevices of your memory, sadness caused by the rejection of the man in your life whom you wish so much had been in your life.

But this note is not so much about the heartache of rejection as it is about what can be deeply comforting for those who choose to receive that comfort.

I discovered that comfort more than 50 years ago. I was 22, and although I never experienced love from my earthly fathers, I discovered I was loved – deeply and passionately and fully loved – by the One who wanted to be my heavenly Father.

He it is who created me. He it is who physically formed me in my mother’s womb. And He it is who never rejected me, even for a moment – although there were oh-so-many-times I rejected Him and had given Him every reason to walk away from me.

So, to you who are fatherless, please, listen to me for a few more moments.

I have often found great solace in knowing about my heavenly Father’s utter faithfulness to His immutable promise – His promise to never turn anyone away who comes to Him for adoption into His family.

And perhaps it is now, as I grow older and closer to the day when my eyes will finally see Him, perhaps it is that knowledge of His faithfulness to me, and of His deep love for me, that the lingering void I’ve lived with all these years is finally dissipating and being replaced with the warmth of His Presence.

Please, if you have read this far, please hear me say it again: This message is not just about me. It’s all about you.

If you’re a fatherless man or woman, I so much want for you to know and to trust the unchangeable promise of God who WANTS to be your Father. He so very much wants to receive you into His ever-dependable embrace, for He vows to never reject anyone who comes to Him.

Read that again: He will never reject anyone who comes to Him.

Please, I hope so much that you will accept what I say here, not only because my words are rooted in my half-century of experience with my heavenly Father, but also because what I say here is rooted in the utterly unfailing trustworthiness of the Scriptures.

Calvary’s cross where Jesus died, and the empty tomb prove that you can trust Him when He tells you He loves you. You can trust Him when He tells you He will never reject you. You can trust Him when He tells you He will wipe clean – perfectly clean – every single sin you’ve ever done – regardless of the depth of those sins – if you confess and repent of them.

Please, won’t you now tell Him you’re sorry? Won’t you now tell Him, “Father, I come. Father, I come”?

You do not need to remain fatherless. But more than that: God Himself does not want you to remain fatherless.