We are children of God so when we talk with Him we can say “Our Father in heaven” (Mt. 6:9 ESV). Isn’t it amazing that our Father is the God of all creation? He is the infinite One. He knows all things and sees all things. He is all-powerful. He is the good One. He is so infinitely loving that Scripture says “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8 ESV). He is the One who takes care of us and gives us power to become like Christ so that no matter what comes our way “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37 ESV).
We must be careful about comparing God too closely to our earthly father. Many people did not have such good fathers. In that case God is not like your earthly father; rather, He is the father you never had. On the other hand if you had a good father you might get really frustrated with God when He doesn’t protect you or bless you like your earthly father. Even though God is all-powerful He does not protect His children from suffering even though He easily could. This can be very frustrating and some people turn away from God because of this. And even though He wants us to be full of joy He does not give us all the blessings we long for.
This is a warning to have the proper expectations about God. Whether we think of Him as neglectful or our perfect protector our expectations will be dashed and we will struggle with Him. Troubles are temptations to doubt God but “he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (I Cor. 10:13 ESV).
Consider this, if God protected all Christians from suffering and showered them with visible blessings then the churches would be filled with people wanting to be Christians just for worldly benefits. Instead, Jesus showed us by His life that God needs to use suffering in order to rescue people from darkness. So we suffer with patience and faith “so that the life of Jesus will be evident” (2 Cor. 4:11) in our lives and that others will know how a Christian suffers.
