abba Father

December 17, 2005

have you ever watched a young child interact with his father? i mean REALLY watched? you know, the sit down and observe them for a while kind of watching.

i was over at tim's house today and finally got to see tobin again. he was extremely shy today. i haven't seen him enough to know how he's been like, but tim was saying that it was different from his usual self. it was actually pretty fascinating to me. tobin would slump his head over tim's shoulder and bury his head into it.

i was upstairs with tim showing him some stuff on his new iMac. jer was downstairs putting a shelf together. after a while, tim, tobin and i went downstairs and watched jer work. periodically, tim would try to give tobin to jer so he could work on the shelf. tobin did not like this at all. the second tim tried to give tobin to jer, he would turn around and bury his head into tim's body. it was obvious that he didn't want to be given to anybody. but at one point, he seemed to be okay with it, momentarily. jer was holding tobin and tim went to work on the shelf. then, tobin started to make a big fuss. the separation was too great. he started wailing and he reached out his arms towards tim. tobin wanted his daddy and he wanted him bad. it was obvious what to do. jer hands him over to tim and tobin immediately quiets down. he collapses in his father's arms. safe and at rest. what a beautiful picture. what a delightful reminder of how we are to long for our abba Father.

oh if we longed for Father that way—that we'd make a big fuss if we couldn't be with Him always and that we'd throw our arms out towards Him and long for Him to come and pick us up in His loving arms. we ought to live our lives like that. in total surrender and submission to our abba. that's how children are to their parents. they live in total reliance on them, desiring only their presence. all they want to do is be with their parents. they also know that when they are with their parents, they are safe. they have no worries or fears. if something scary happens, they can just tuck their head into their mother or father's shoulders and know that everything will be okay. they are protected. that's what tobin was doing today. it's no wonder that we are told to have faith like that of children.

we often refer to God, as just that, God. it tends to be distant and removed. if we learnt to see God as abba Father, it would really change things. abba in aramaic means "papa" or "daddy." there's a certain intimacy and closeness there. a daddy is: a person who will protect you, love you, accept you, take care of you, and supply all your needs; a person you can bring all your worries, cares, fears to; a person who you can look up to, who you can ask all your questions to. what if we began to see Him like that? like a child, we would yearn for the warm embrace of our father and want nothing more than to rest in his strong and loving arms and stay there forever.

"as the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God" - (psalm 42:1 [NIV])

Posted by Leo Chan at December 17, 2005 11:46 PM