The Father Who Carries Us, Forever!
As the world celebrates Father’s Day, it is interesting to recollect that there was a time when our fathers and mothers, had to stop carrying us. Perhaps it was because they wanted us to learn to walk on our own, or perhaps because we were getting too big for them to carry and they could no longer bear our weight comfortably. “Carry me,” you and I cried as usual, but were lovingly denied that request at some point.
As we think about the natural reality of not being carried around by a father or mother any longer, we must admit though, that sometimes we wish we were little children again: reembodied in our childhood body so that we once again knew the loving care of a father or mother who could carry us. Such tender thoughts perhaps come to us in times of intense loneliness or suffering, or when we deeply miss a father or mother, or when we think of some precious memory of when they carried us. Now when you wish that you were a little child again, or wish that you could be carried again by father or mother, what is this wish but a longing in the heart that points to the reality of a Father who can still carry you despite your age, stage of life, or size? Indeed, it is a desire that is meant to point you to such a Father.
Here is a very special and deeply comforting promise found in the Bible, from this Father, the heavenly Father. It comes from the Old Testament book of Isaiah (46:3-4):
This promise came to the Israelites at a time when there was gross idolatry in their land, and many of them had turned to trusting in dead idols instead of in the living God. In verses 1 and 2 of this chapter, God makes fun of these idols made of various materials like gold, silver, or wood. In order to be transported from one location to another, animals like donkeys or oxen were used. God says, “Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary beast.” The idols need animals to be carried, and the animals grow weary! In contrast, God is the Creator of these animals which carry the idols! Who then should be worshipped? Today, in many places of the world, most notably India, very large and burdensome idols are carried in trucks from location to location, posing hazards to the vehicle, the driver, other pedestrians and motorists, and very often resulting in fatalities.
Instead of needing to be carried by them, as they were doing with their idols, God promises His children here in Isaiah 46:3-4 that He will carry them. He carried them from birth, even as their parents carried them in their arms. His carrying and nursing care however, does not stop. It continues on into adulthood, and as we begin to age, and once we have grown old, the arms of the blessed heavenly Father are there, still ready to carry us. Are you an adult who has lost a parent and long for their affection? Run to the arms of your heavenly Father. Are you old with a head of white hair, and wish to feel the tender embrace of the father or mother you once felt when you were little? Know that you can once again experience being carried, cared for, loved, and embraced even at this stage in life, by your Heavenly Father. Go to Him. He bids you, “Come!” He is always ready.
Out of the carriable stage of life we went, and out of their carrying capacity for us our parents went. All of this naturally so, for it would be very odd and unnatural for a father or mother to carry a grown child even if they really wanted to, or the child wanted it. No grown person wants to be literally carried around by their father or mother. It is simply unnatural and embarrassing.
Carried Through All Stages of Life?
As we think about the natural reality of not being carried around by a father or mother any longer, we must admit though, that sometimes we wish we were little children again: reembodied in our childhood body so that we once again knew the loving care of a father or mother who could carry us. Such tender thoughts perhaps come to us in times of intense loneliness or suffering, or when we deeply miss a father or mother, or when we think of some precious memory of when they carried us. Now when you wish that you were a little child again, or wish that you could be carried again by father or mother, what is this wish but a longing in the heart that points to the reality of a Father who can still carry you despite your age, stage of life, or size? Indeed, it is a desire that is meant to point you to such a Father.
Here is a very special and deeply comforting promise found in the Bible, from this Father, the heavenly Father. It comes from the Old Testament book of Isaiah (46:3-4):
“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.”
This promise came to the Israelites at a time when there was gross idolatry in their land, and many of them had turned to trusting in dead idols instead of in the living God. In verses 1 and 2 of this chapter, God makes fun of these idols made of various materials like gold, silver, or wood. In order to be transported from one location to another, animals like donkeys or oxen were used. God says, “Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary beast.” The idols need animals to be carried, and the animals grow weary! In contrast, God is the Creator of these animals which carry the idols! Who then should be worshipped? Today, in many places of the world, most notably India, very large and burdensome idols are carried in trucks from location to location, posing hazards to the vehicle, the driver, other pedestrians and motorists, and very often resulting in fatalities.
Instead of needing to be carried by them, as they were doing with their idols, God promises His children here in Isaiah 46:3-4 that He will carry them. He carried them from birth, even as their parents carried them in their arms. His carrying and nursing care however, does not stop. It continues on into adulthood, and as we begin to age, and once we have grown old, the arms of the blessed heavenly Father are there, still ready to carry us. Are you an adult who has lost a parent and long for their affection? Run to the arms of your heavenly Father. Are you old with a head of white hair, and wish to feel the tender embrace of the father or mother you once felt when you were little? Know that you can once again experience being carried, cared for, loved, and embraced even at this stage in life, by your Heavenly Father. Go to Him. He bids you, “Come!” He is always ready.
The Only Father Who Offers This
No other deity, or teacher, or guru in any other religion offers to come into a relationship with you as Father. This kind of love is offered to you only by the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That’s why the Bible says in 1 John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” The way you can be a child of God, and call God your Father, is when you believe upon God’s Son, Jesus Christ. In believing on Jesus and forsaking all others, you who are not yet a child of God, will be granted forgiveness and pardon for sin because of Christ’s payment for your sins. You will be caused by this act of faith to participate in the right and privilege Christ Himself has, of knowing God as your Father.
Have you never been able to call God your Father, or never experienced His loving arms carrying you? Then today dear reader, come to the heavenly Father through Jesus, His Son. This Father is the Creator of the universe. He is God—holy and transcendent—and yet is our Father, the One who carries us and cares for us, forever.
© Kenny Damara, 2014 & 2017
Have you never been able to call God your Father, or never experienced His loving arms carrying you? Then today dear reader, come to the heavenly Father through Jesus, His Son. This Father is the Creator of the universe. He is God—holy and transcendent—and yet is our Father, the One who carries us and cares for us, forever.
© Kenny Damara, 2014 & 2017
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