Deuteronomy 32:6 Do you thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he your father that has bought you? has he not made you… The term "father" implies all that is most tender and affectionate. The love of a father is immeasurable. It extends to everything which can affect the welfare of his offspring. Is not God your Father? 1. Did not He create you? Was it not He who, having created you, committed you to the charge of your earthly parents, and disposed their minds to watch with unceasing care over your welfare? Is it not, therefore, in a secondary sense only that we are to ascribe the term of father to our earthly parent, while the primary and full meaning of the word belongs only to our Creator? Let us remember that, in having God for our Father, we possess the highest honour and the noblest privilege which any created beings can enjoy. 2. There is another sense in which the title of Father is justly claimed by God. He is the Father who hath bought us. When I have reflected upon the signal proofs which God has given of His paternal feelings towards us, I have often been surprised that those whose gratitude to their earthly parents is unbounded, should show so little affection to their heavenly Father, and rely so little on His love and mercy.The reasons of this inconsistency appear to me to be the following. 1. The undue attachment which we are apt to place on objects of sense. We see and converse with an earthly parent, but our bodily senses do not inform us of the presence of God. Yet the proofs of His presence are actually more strong and numerous than those which attest the existence of any material object. 2. Through the weakness of the human understanding we continually entertain an undue estimation of second causes. We do not feel the extent of our obligations to our heavenly Father, because many of the blessings which He bestows are communicated to us by some instrument appointed for that end. It will probably, however, be generally acknowledged, that the character of God is good and gracious. It is in the practical use of such knowledge that we are chiefly apt to fail.This is, therefore, the end to which I now shall direct your attention. 1. You ought to entertain the highest reverence for His laws. Read the Bible constantly as containing the will of your heavenly Father. 2. This view of the character of God as our Father gives a just idea of the true nature of religion. Religion is the homage which you pay to your heavenly Father. It is the regulation of your lives by His holy Word. It is the enjoyment of the innumerable benefits offered to mankind through His beloved Son. Religion must bear the stamp and character of its Author. 3. Is God our Father? Then we ought to maintain an intercourse with Him by frequent prayer, and to praise Him daily for His innumerable mercies. 4. Is God our Father? Let us then place a generous confidence in Him. (J. Venn, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee? |
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