The Father has compassion!
Psalm 103:13- As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
There is a lot of fear out in the world. People fear the unknown. People fear the known. People fear sickness, disease, and viruses. People fear being attacked. How about you? What do you fear?
Our Bible passage is talking about the fear of the LORD. It is easy to be afraid of the LORD since he knows everything we have ever done wrong. It is easy to be afraid of the LORD when he is present everywhere and there is no escaping him. It is easy to be afraid of the LORD when he is a consuming fire on all who sin against him. But is this the same as the fear of the LORD?
Look how our Bible describes the LORD. He is like a father who has compassion on his children. Even though earthly fathers fail in comparison to the LORD because they are sinful, for the most part we can understand the analogy. Earthly fathers will go out of their way to protect their children from harm. How much more will our Heavenly Father go to protect us from all harm! You might be thinking, “If you knew my father, you would not want to have God the Father compared to him.” Our Heavenly Father’s compassion never fails because he was willing to give up his own Son to protect us from the harm of sin and death. Our Father’s compassion is not dependent on us but on his perfect Son. This relieves us of being afraid of our Father.
But this causes us to fear our Heavenly Father. To fear the LORD is to respect and honor him as our compassionate and loving Father. You have a tender-hearted Father who is willing to give you, his kingdom. You have a Father who has not failed you but one who has rescued you from all harm through his Son Jesus. You have a compassionate Father who has forgiven you and gives you eternal life!
Dear Heavenly Father! Thank you for revealing yourself as a compassionate Father. Help us fear, love, and trust in you above all things. Let us not be afraid to turn to you when we have sinned. Forgive us and restore us to your kingdom. In your Son’s name we pray. Amen.