Is God a good gift giver? Would you go as far as saying He’s a great gift giver?
Last week, our podcast focused on God’s fatherly traits. This week, we’re meditating on His role of provider. God’s love is consistent, and He never forgets even the smallest details. How we view God determines how we approach God, and how we approach God reveals our [perceived] relationship with Him.
I often think of God as our father. The most perfect, loving father there has ever been and will ever be. That’s my basis for how I picture God’s way of interacting with us; a loving father who desires nothing more than a great relationship with his children. One thing about great fathers, even good fathers, is that they love to provide for their children.
Praying Servants
Sometimes I have to watch my words carefully when I pray. Why? I do it in order to make sure I’m not praying from the perspective of a servant versus a son. Most prayers would be more like begging or pleading, hoping my daddy would even give me the time of day. This used to happen more frequently when I was younger Christian. Over the years it happens less and less, but it still happens.
So as I picture God as a perfect father who wants relationship with his sons and daughters one of the mental images I get is that a father building a toy model with his child.
God doesn’t want prayers that are one sided. He wants involvement. He wants relationship.
When I was a kid it was so fun to go to the toy store and stand there looking at the massive wall of models. Cars and planes, tanks, trains, and so much more. I would get excited studying the pictures on the front of each box looking for the perfect model. There I was, probably a good 3 feet tall, having the hardest time deciding which model to pick out while whomever brought me there patiently waited.
God wants that type of relationship with me. Picking out a toy model represents any decision I have to make. Whether it’s an important financial decision, a relationship decision, or just a life decision in general, God wants to be there with me experiencing the whole process. So what’s the difference between a son and a servant?
Being a servant is asking God to go to the store and pick out any model without your input. Giving it to you, sometimes even put together already without your involvement. God wants to be a part of your decision-making process just as much as He wants to be there for the assembling, and the painting, and applying the stickers. He even wants to play with it right there along side you.
Provisions Many Forms
Sometimes I pray as if my opinion doesn’t matter, or even exist, and it’s in those moments when I hear God respond by asking me, “What’s on your heart? Which one do you like? What do you want to do?” God may provide material things, but I believe He also provides emotional things such as caring about what we think, like, want, need, love, etc.
A good father, and in our case a perfect father, loves to provide for His sons and daughters. Sometimes He provides material goods, sometimes He provides emotionally. We can all be sure of one thing, whenever He provides it is always good, whether we believe it or not.