The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. Psalm 103:13

When you were a kid, did your mother ever say to you, wait until your father gets home?!

Whether mischief at home or at school, an exchange with dad has been an historically universal outcome when kids have misbehaved. My friend Joel lives in the Middle East.  He tells of sharing stories with his friends about the mischief they had gotten up to as boys and the beatings they’d received from their fathers when they got home from school.

One man shared that his father would beat him for 30 minutes straight before he would stop and even ask what his son had done. He would run away and stay away from home for days, until his mother said it was safe to return.

When Joel told of his own more memorable misdeeds, the men asked about how he’d been punished. Joel paused and told them: “My father would sit me down and explain to me why my behavior was wrong.  He would open the Bible and have me read passages of scripture that showed why my behavior was against God’s ways.  He wanted me to understand the reason behind the punishment he was about to give me and explained it was to help me remember not to do it again.   Afterward,” Joel finished, “he would hold me until I stopped crying and he assured me that he loved me.”

The room was silent.

“There is something in all of us,” writes Joel, “that longs for a Father who loves us perfectly.”   We were created by God with that longing, a longing that can only be filled by Him and His perfect love for us.