Fatherhood of God, Comfort of – Charles Spurgeon

A FATHER! There is music in that word, but not to a fatherless child—to him it is full of sorrowful memories. Those who have never lost a father can scarcely know how precious a relation a father is. A father who is a father indeed, is very dear! Do we not remember how we climbed his knee? Do we not recollect the kisses we imprinted on his cheeks? Do we not recall today with gratitude the chidings of his wisdom and the gentle encouragements of his affection? We owe, ah! who shall tell how much we owe to our fathers according to the flesh, and when they are taken from us we lament their loss, and feel that a great gap is made in our family circle. Listen, then, to these words, “Our Father, who is in Heaven.” Consider the grace contained in the Lord’s deigning to take us into the relationship of children, and giving us with the relationship the nature and the spirit of children, so that we say, “Abba, Father.” Did you ever lie in bed with your limbs vexed with sore pains, and cry, “Father, pity your child? Did you ever look into the face of death, and as you thought you were about to depart, cry, ‘My Father, help me; uphold me with your gracious hand, and bear me through the stream of death? It is at such times that we realize the glory of the Fatherhood of God, and in our feebleness learn to cling to the divine strength, and catch at the divine love.