Login » Sign Up! » Search

Daddy, Please Don't Go!

Get the discussion questions for Daddy, Please Don't Go!

When I got to the building I found that the hurricane had knocked off some bricks around the top. So I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple barrels full of bricks. When I had fixed the damaged area, there were a lot of bricks left over, which I placed all in one barrel. Then I went to the bottom and began releasing the line. Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was much heavier than I was--and before I knew what was happening the barrel started coming down, jerking me up.

I decided to hang on since I was too far off the ground by then to jump, and halfway up I met the barrel of bricks coming down fast. I received a hard blow on my shoulder. I then continued to the top, banging my head against the beam and getting my fingers pinched and jammed in the pulley. When the barrel hit the ground hard, it burst its bottom, allowing the bricks to spill out. I was now heavier than the barrel. So I started down again at high speed. Halfway down I met the barrel coming up fast and received severe injuries to my shins. When I hit the ground, I landed on the pile of spilled bricks getting several painful cuts and deep bruises. At this point I must have lost my presence of mind, because I let go of my grip on the line. The barrel came down--fast, giving me another blow on my head and putting me in the hospital.

I respectfully request sick leave.

Well maybe you haven't had days quite that bad, but have you ever felt like God is against you? Even worse, have you ever felt like He's picked up, packed up, and left town with no plans of conatcting you in the future?

In other words, there's a question that many Christians struggle with:

God...would you ever leave me or forsake me?

We don't come right out and throw that question right in His face, but when we lose things, things go bad, things don't work out, or things change...it becomes the thing we struggle with.

And that's the worst thing of all, because you are a child of God.

I know, you've probably already heard this before. "I've been there and done that! So why do I still feel like God is couple million miles away?"

Because I don't think you really know where God's been and what He's done to make you His child.

God has been to earth and back for you. God died on a cross for you. God lived the life we should have lived so we wouldn't have to die the death we should have died.

When you trusted Christ, God became your Father. Here's how it happened:

The Bible says that "Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:5)

Did you get that? We've been adopted into a new family! God's family!

But here's the problem. We read this verse and think of adoption as in the 'modern day' type, so the mental picture we get is this:

Before we trusted Christ, we didn't have a spiritual family. We were 'little godless orphans' living in the shelter of sorrowful souls. Then one day God came into the orphanage, picked us out and signed the papers, and now we have a sweet deal with Jesus and the rest of our heavenly homies...or something like that. But look out! If you get out of line God will wave the adoption papers in front of your face and yell "I took you out of that repressing and depressing home for the homeless, and I can put you back!"

No wonder we wonder if God will ever leave us. In our day and age, people have the right to "unadopt" children if they want, but when the Bible was written, this was not the case.

Check out Galatians 4:7:

Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child. And since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you.

In Roman times (when the New Testament was written), many slaves lived in shame and fear. They were roughly treated by their masters, and their lives were miserable. They basically had no hope out of a pretty hopeless situation, unless a highly unlikely miracle happened.

And what would this miracle be?

Adoption. In that culture, this was the absolute best thing that could happen to a slave. Imagine yourself lower than a low life - a no life with no future and no freedom. Then one day a knock comes on your door. Expecting it to be another loudmouth drunken friend of your master who will probably make you his choice of the day for verbal and physical abuse, you slowly shuffle to the entrance and timidly greet the visitor.

Except this time, there is a kind looking person gazing at you with compassion in His eyes. He is dressed in the purest white, and bears a scroll with the King's seal on it!

The parchment shakes and tears fall from your eyes as you read the offer of adoption. You realize that your freedom from slavery has been bought and paid - and you now have a new Father who will cherish your company as his own child as long as you live.

Not only that, you have an inheritance to all that the Father owns. All your debts have been paid in full - you are now what is called an adrogatus (adopted one), and your life now belongs to a family that will love and care for you.

If you are a believer, that is your story as well. It's not as if God signed some simple adoption papers, but He'll never be you're 'real' Dad, because Jesus is His 'real' Son. Quite the opposite actually. As an adrogatus, you are guaranteed your freedom from the slavery that results from shame, fear, and a destiny in hell. Not only that, but you now have full rights as a child of the King - which means that God really is your true Father, and Jesus really is your true brother. You also have brothers and sisters all over the world who are a part of your permanent family.

Want to hear the best part? In that culture, if you were adopted you could never be disowned by your father. A natural born son/daughter could, but not one who was brought into the family through adoption. That person was guaranteed a place in the family no matter what happened.

That's why Satan whispers the lies about God leaving or forsaking...he's your old master! He's calling you right now back into a life of fear, shame, and slavery to bad choices. He wants you to think that your adoption is no big deal, and that your Father really doesn't have time for you.

But He does have time. The King of Glory has asked you to address Him as 'Abba' (in our words, this would be something like 'Daddy', or 'Papa')...this was a term formerly used only by Jesus - but now it is our privilege as well. It means we have a deeply intimate, personal, and permanent relationship with our Father God as His adopted children.

You're secure in the family, my friend. Nothing you could ever do will make God love you more, and nothing you could do will make God love you less! That's why He made this promise in Hebrews 13:5:

"I will never fail you. I will never forsake you."

Here's the way the Amplified Bible puts it:

God Himself has said, "I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down or relax My hold on you! Assuredly not!"

Maybe you're feeling like your Daddy has walked out, but could it be that it was you who has hit the road recently? Turn around and head back to your true home!

Head: What you need to know about this truth

At the moment you trusted Christ's death and resurrection as your only hope of salvation, you were permanently adopted into God's family. God is your Abba Father, who will never leave you or forsake you.

Heart: What you need to feel about this truth

Secure. I guarantee you that during your life on this earth there will be many people who will leave and/or forsake you. Take hope in knowing that you have a heavenly Daddy who is the same in His love for you "yesterday, today, and forever". If you are feeling lost and lonely - like God has left you - take some time to read one of the most touching stories in the Bible about God's love for us.

There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father,

'Father, I want right now what's coming to me.'

So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

That brought him to his senses. He said, "All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I'm going back to my father. I'll say to him,

Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.' He got right up and went home to his father.

"When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech:

'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'

"But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, "Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here--given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time.

"All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day's work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, "Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast--barbecued beef!-because he has him home safe and sound.'

"The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. The son said, "Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? 30Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!'

"His father said, "Son, you don't understand. You're with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours-- but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he's alive! He was lost, and he's found!'" (Luke 15:11-32 The Message)

Hands: What you need to do about this truth

Write a thank you letter to your Father, thanking Him for adopting you into the greatest family in the universe. As well, maybe lately you have been a little like one of the two sons in the story. Either you have wandered a way from home, or you have been unhappy with God or judgmental towards your brother and/or sisters in Christ. Take some time to evaluate yourself to see if you need to have a heart to heart talk with your Daddy.