Our heavenly Father has promised to work all the things that come into our lives together for our good. He brings trials into our lives, but even these difficult periods of life He uses to make us more like Jesus Christ for His glory and our good. The trials and the wisdom He gives us to face them are among the good gifts that He gives His children (James 1:17). In fact, those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing (see Psalm 34:10). It is also true that our Father sometimes requires us to ask for those good things in order to receive them (Matthew 7:7-11). According to James, sometimes we do not have because we do not ask (see James 4:2). Jesus said that our heavenly Father will give us good things when we ask Him. There may be times when we ask for things, and God does not grant them. We must trust God that the thing for which we have asked is not good for us.
It is both a blessing and responsibility to be a father, but we have a wonderful example to follow in our heavenly Father. Our children will ask us for things…many things. As fathers, it is a great joy to give them the good gifts they need. But sometimes we must decline to give what they asked for because it may not be good for them. On this Father’s Day may we dads commit to do our best to mimic our Heavenly Father, and may each of us thank our earthly fathers for the good gifts they gave us and also for the things they withheld!