THE TENDERNESS OF A FATHER
Psalms 84:3 NLT
[3] “Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!”
What father, holding his newborn baby in his arms, is not overwhelmed with tenderness towards that tiny, fragile life? His own life flickers feebly in this brand new person, a new creation, to be loved, protected, nurtured, and cherished until this one stands strong and tall to continue a new generation.
I know I’m treading on thin ice here because Psalm 84 is not one of David’s psalms. However, the words reflect David’s thoughts because he spoke often of God’s fatherly tenderness towards His people.
Take Psalm 103, for example which is headed, “A psalm of David”. Why was this psalm, as well as Psalm 139 and others, not included in the first 72 psalms which were attributed to David? We don’t know.
Let’s put this psalm, 84, attributed to the sons of Korah, side by side with David’s sentiments in Psalm 103.
Psalms 103:13-14 NLT
[13] “The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. [14] For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.”
No earthly father’s heart comes close to the heart of God when it comes to tender love for His offspring. God’s tenderness, like the softness of His love towards a tiny bird that ignores all the protocol of temple worship and dares to build its nest near the altar, so the Lord has compassion on feeble and frail humans. Made of dust, He can blow them away in a moment of anger…but He doesn’t!
Psalms 103:8-12 NIV
[8] “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. [9] He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; [10] he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. [11] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; [12] as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
How often do we reflect on God’s tenderness? Is this not one of the great differences between the God of revelation and the gods of human imagination? Man-made gods are usually rigid and heartless. They demand and take from their devotees. Only the God of the Bible has expressed Himself as infinitely tender.
Even in God’s greatest moments of anger and frustration with His disobedient people, His tenderness softened His rage wth mercy and compassion.
Hosea 11:3-4, 7-8 NLT
[3] I myself taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand. But he doesn’t know or even care that it was I who took care of him. [4] I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted the yoke from his neck, and I myself stooped to feed him…
[7] For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me. [8] “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows.”
Has any other so-called “god” demonstrated such compassion towards those who persistently defy him? Has mercy and judgment clashed and mercy has won the day in their book? Does God love to punish those who rebel against Him? Does He want to destroy the wicked?
Ezekiel 18:23 NLT
[23] “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die?” says the Sovereign Lord.” Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.”
Unlike the gods people have created, the true God is both love and holiness in perfect balance. His holiness demands retribution for breaking His holy standards but His love cries out for mercy for the offenders.
What did God do to satisfy His tender love and His abhorrence for sin? He send His own Son to take the rap for sinners so that He can love and forgive us freely because His justice has been satisfied.
Psalms 103:8-12 NLT
[8] “The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. [9] He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. [10] He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. [11] For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. [12] He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”
Who but those who have tasted God’s forgiveness, can testify of a tenderness that not only feels but acts with both perfect justice and tender mercy towards those who fear Him?
Romans 3:25-26 NLT
[25] “For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, [26] for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.”
Could God have made this transaction any simpler than to trade our sin for faith in Jesus? God is both just for punishing sin in His own Son, and the one who justifies sinners, reckons them not guilty, because the debt of sin has been fully paid.
God is free to lavish His tender love on every person who has accepted as true and believed in His promise to forgive and restore the sinner to full sonship on an equal footing with Jesus. Wow! Could there ever be a greater, more powerful expression of God’s love than this!
However, we must never forget that God’s justice requires that He punish offenders since, to ignore sin would be a denial of the very essence of God’s character. To be true to Himself, He must carry out the judgment on sin that He declared from the beginning.
Genesis 2:16-17 NLT
[16] “But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— [17] except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
God gave the first human everything he needed to live a perfectly happy and contented life, with one prohibition, one test. “Don’t trespass into the territory of “me first”. If you pass this test, you will live forever. If not, you will die. I don’t permit rivals. Love me first and freely and abundant, satisfying life will be yours.” Was that too much to ask? Yet, the first pair failed the test, fell for the lie, and deliberately stepped out of the “tender” zone into the “anger” zone because they didn’t believe God.
Even then, God didn’t leave us there…
1 John 4:10 NLT
[10] “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”
Why, then, do people still believe that what God said and did is not true?
So strong is the perversity of the human heart that people will cling to their sin rather than believe in God’s tender love for guilty sinners.
What Jesus said reveals His heart when He cried out from the cross these words of compassion and forgiveness…
Luke 23:34 NLT
[34]… “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”…
… while the soldiers gambled for His clothing!