You're the Child God Always Wanted

Nearly twelve years ago we received this email from our daughter Arla in Vietnam where she and her husband Kris would adopt our first grandchild-two-month-old Peter:

 "As I write to you, I am holding your precious grandson asleep in his snugli! We got him yesterday around 2:30 and have been holding him almost ever since." Kris and Arla had eagerly anticipated that day for nearly two years, but their great desire to assume responsibility as Peter's parents is but a faint reflection of our Heavenly Father's longing to parent us.

Amazingly, God yearns to be thought of as a parent. He admitted to the Israelites, "I thought to myself I would love to treat you as my own children...I looked forward to your calling me Father" (Jeremiah 3:19 NLT). No wonder Jesus, aware of His Father's longing, tells us to begin our prayer with the words "Our Father which art in heaven." Seventeen times in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus called God our "Father." It must be His favorite title for us to use when we speak to Him.

Our Father "predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will" (Ephesians 1:5). As adopted children, we have access to our Father's embrace! Even more than Arla and Kris's delight in cuddling Peter and tending to His needs, God longs to tenderly care for us.

Thank You, Father, that as Your adopted children, we have access to Your embrace.

"The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he understands how weak we are; he knows we are only dust" (Psalm 103 13, 14 NLT).