Isaiah 32:2 KJV
And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
Stability. Solidity. Safety.
All the things that the big wide world does NOT represent to a child.
Sure. Steady. Dependable. A Man. Me?
This article is a little hard for me to write because I fall so short of the ideal. But that doesn’t mean that we should not talk about the ideal, so we know what we are striving for. And, finally, the men in my life that exemplified these traits weren’t perfect either. They just stood for something.
A MAN shall be…..
– a hiding place in the wind
– a cover in a gale
– a place of cool waters in a hot dry place
– a place of cool shade in a burning desert land.
Putting that in our terms, I will say it this way:
A Father shall be….
– a listening ear when a girl does poorly on an English test
– an understanding heart when a boy feels like he’s being picked on and taunted on the playground
– a pair of comforting arms when a teenager feels like a precious relationship is coming apart
– a loving, warning voice when negative influences are encroaching on the home.
– a defender of the home against the myriad evils and dangers that are seeking to maim and destroy, some of them subtle and some openly hostile.
There are a hundred threats, and a thousand situations where a child needs a shelter, a refuge, a rock. I could write at length about the size and number of the hazards, but I want to rather direct our thinking towards what it means to be that “rock” for our families. Because we CAN be that rock, as we anchor to our God in Heaven. There can be a thousand threats, as long as there is at least One Rock! For us, that’s God. For our children, it’s us. Can we be that kind of solid, steady, loving MAN that will be a shelter in the tempest, and a great rock in a weary land? Yes, by God’s grace we can.
