Psalm 16:2; “Our Father, Which Art In Heaven,” “Father, I Adore Thee,” Psalms 31:1-4, and 8:1.

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures, and spoke to me as the Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6):

Proverbs 4:1 ¶ Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

Children are beckoned to hear the instruction of their fathers. To hear means more than passively acknowledging the voice and recognizing the words spoken. It means to hear intentionally, it means to hear with interest, and with a readiness to respond appropriately. In the case before us, the child is called to attend to his or her father’s words. The word attend adds emphasis to the command to hear. It calls for attention, to prick up the ears, not like the cat, which, upon your approach, or voice, turns its ear in your direction, but like the dog which lifts its ears and turns its face toward yours.

The children are coaxed by their fathers to listen intently with a purpose: “to know understanding” (Proverbs 4:1). Knowing is more than merely being aware of something or someone; it is rightly comprehending who or what that something or someone is. Understanding is discerning the meaning of what is known. Together, knowledge and understanding lead one to the getting of wisdom needed to make proper use of that knowledge and understanding. The ultimate objective of hearing and attending to our father’s instruction is to “Get wisdom” (Proverbs 5-7).

Understanding is an interesting compound of under and standing. This yields insight critical to receiving the benefit of our fathers’ instruction: we must take our place under their authority (Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20).

Finally, the children cannot be expected to hear and attend unless the father is actively involved in teaching his children: “I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He [the father] taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live” (Proverbs 4:3-4).

Along the still waters, as I pondered these things, my thoughts, being guided by the Spirit to truth (John 16:13), I heard Jesus speak to my heart as a Father to His child.

Christ identifies Himself as the Son of the Father, that is, the Son of God, when He affirmed Peter’s declaration: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16-17). He referred to God as His Father many times (for example, John 14:1-2). Also, after His resurrection, He said to Mary: “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17).

And yet,  His name is called “the mighty God, the everlasting Father” (Isaiah 9:6). And it was in His role as the “everlasting Father” that He spoke to me today: “Hear … the instruction” of your everlasting Father. Another curious compound that, when considered, yields insight: in and structure. Our Father guides us into the structured knowledge of God. When we discipline our thoughts and feelings to stay within the Divinely ordered structure of Truth, we are safe from the chaos and confusion created by His enemy and ours, for Satan is the author of confusion and chaos, which is behind “every evil work” (1 Corinthians 14:33; James 3:16).

In the valley, shadowed by His Cross, where Christ was crucified, I knelt and listened humbly as He instructed me in “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” displayed in His crucifixion, which is a stumblingblock to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, where the “foolishness of God” was shown to be “wiser than men” and the “weakness of God” “stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:22-25). I knelt and listened attentively as He reminded me of the day my own heart rejected the Cross as foolishness, and the day He came to me and answered my question: Why would someone with His glorious power and wisdom allow wicked men to abuse Him so cruelly and unjustly? It was a one-word answer: Love! (John 3:16)

He spoke: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. We went together into the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏