The word “Father” (Abba) in Hebrew is derived from the words source and sustainer. God is referred to as Father over 150 times in the Bible!
When God created Adam & Eve, God became the source of Adam & Eve. He built them and gave them life. In order to sustain them he created an atmosphere or environment in which His creation could flourish and thrive. He created and placed both Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden – the garden of Eden is a place of His presence. God sourced Adam & Eve and then sustained them in His presence. He created and put them in a place to flourish and thrive.
As a parent of 4 children and in a lifestage of many parents with children, I have noticed that one of the ultimate goals of parents is that we do everything we can to help set up our children for success. We put them in good schools, we do extra lessons, we put them in environments to succeed. In essence, we try to sustain them.
Karyne and I felt a major life skill would be to make sure our children know how to swim. They don’t need to be Olympians, they just need to know how not to drown. We became the source of the idea and goal of having our children learn to swim.
In order to sustain this idea, we felt we needed to put them in an environment to learn to swim. Just because we say, “they should swim”, if nothing is done, they won’t learn to swim!
So every Wednesday, Karyne and I bring 3 out of 4 kids to a swimming lessons pool where they do 30 minute lessons. I pay $30 per kid for half an hour of swimming. The first 3 classes Mercy sat on the side of the pool. I paid $90 for my kid to sit on the side of the pool?! But the environment of instructors, of her siblings swimming, of repetition – she was in an environment to succeed. $300 later, she is no longer afraid of water, able to go under, do all the things to succeed in the goal of being good enough to not drown.
We are all fathers. Not the biological sense of being a dad to a child. Rather we are all sources and sustainers of ideas and instructions that we come up with (hopefully with the guidance of the Holy Spirit).
When you give birth to instructions, to leadership, to goals, to plans – you become the source – but you must also sustain. We need to create the best atmosphere, the best position to succeed in what the goal or assignment is.
As we mature and hear God – our desires become His desires – our thoughts become His thoughts – our plans become His plans. Let us hear from God and father it all the way to fruition. Let our decisions (source) and plans (sustain) be that of the King’s.
Amen.