This photo still makes me cry.  I took this shot of my daddy holding onto my hand just a week (or less) before he died.

I loved my daddy.  He was the one who played with me and the one I spent most of my time with outside.   He wasn’t perfect, but he was loving and kind.   I couldn’t study about Father God without thinking of my own earthly dad.

Okay, onto the study …

Today I moved ahead a bit in my Beth Moore Bible study:  Living Beyond Yourself, Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit and was just amazed at some of the scriptures I have read before but never really SEEN.   I love how God’s Word is LIVING AND ACTIVE — never-changing yet there is always something new to unravel.

Beth Moore gave us examples of God’s NURTURING nature towards us.

This lesson is on the fruit of the spirit:  Kindness.  The Greek word for kindness is chrestotes which means tender concern for others.   Beth said that in precise terms, chrestotes is a tender heart and a nurturing spirit.

Have you ever had a hard time feeling God’s love for you?   I used to feel that way.   I felt like it was so easy to relate to Jesus and feel love and acceptance from Him.   I felt the same way about the precious Holy Spirit.  He was there for me and was my Comforter.  But when it came to getting close to Father God, I expected judgment.    Apparently that is common.  Beth stated that believers are more knowledgeable in the areas of God’s sovereignty and judgment than they are His tenderness and kindness.   I agree.

Today’s study blew me away.  Seriously, she saw tenderness in stories that I have read over the years — but I never focused on God’s kindness.

Have you ever read the story of Sarai, Abram, and Hagar?  Do you remember how Sarai (before she became Sarah) stepped ahead of God’s timing and gave Hagar (her slave) to her husband Abram so that she could have descendents?   Near the end of the story where Sarah had finally given birth to Isaac and had asked Abraham (who was once called Abram) to send Hagar and her son Ishmael away — God showed Hagar great kindness.   Though she was sent out on her own with her son, God heard her cries.   She thought her son was going to die and couldn’t bear watching him suffer.

Genesis 21:17-21
God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.  Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.  While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

God lovingly provided for Hagar and Ishmael.   He filled the role of his father (God was with the boy as he grew up).   He heard her cries from heaven and reached out.

He responded as a divine parent with the power to intervene.  Too tender was His heart to stand by passively.
~Beth Moore

Deuteronomy 7:7-9
The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.  But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your ancestors that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

God is loving and faithful.   His love is greater than anything we can understand in comparison to what we experience with one another.   Our love is often fickle, but not God’s love.   His faithfulness astounds me!   I am jumping up and down inside saying, “I LOVE YOU GOD!  HALLELUJAH FOR THE NEXT 1000 GENERATIONS!”

Isaiah 49:15-16
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!
 See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands;
    your walls are ever before Me.

There was a time when I felt forgotten by God.  For years my husband and I dealt with infertility.  But what hurt the most was the scripture about children being a reward and gift from God.  Since I didn’t have any, I felt punished — forgotten — overlooked.

He can’t forget me because I am engraved in the palm of His Hand!  Satan wanted me to receive rejection from God, but my Father never forgot me.   He hasn’t forgotten you either!

The names carved into the hand of God were written by the precious blood of His Son!
Beth Moore~

Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in His love He will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.

I love that God rejoices over me with singing!   He also takes great delight in me.   I can understand that as a parent because I find delight in most things that my daughter does.

Hosea 11:1-4
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    and out of Egypt I called My son.
But the more they were called,
    the more they went away from Me.
They sacrificed to the Baals
    and they burned incense to images.
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
    taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize
    it was I who healed them.
I led them with cords of human kindness,
    with ties of love.
To them I was like one who lifts
    a little child to the cheek,
    and I bent down to feed them.

What a visual of God’s loving kindness and desire to nurture His children.   Even though they were doing wicked things, He took them by the arms and healed them.   He led them with cords of human kindness with ties of His love.   He was like One who lifted a child to His cheek and bent over to feed them.   Wow!  Have you EVER noticed this scripture before?

Have you ever seen the God of all creation walking in the role of your parent?  He loves and nurtures EACH of us.   You aren’t excluded.

Think of these things and begin to cry out to Abba Father.   He loves you!   What parent doesn’t come to a child in need?