A Father Worst Nightmare

There are some things in life which are certain to cause an instant sense of dread. Last week, I unfortunately experienced a few minutes of what I would call a “father's worst nightmare”----my three year old was missing! Although my wife and I have six children living in the home, we make it a habit to keep tabs on our four younger children as we solicit the help from our two older daughters in watching the kids. On this particular day, my daughters were taking the kids to the park up the street. After making sure that everyone had their shoes on, they gathered outside with the neighbors and were about to walk to the park; however, there was only one problem. There was no Josiah. I realized there was a problem when one of my daughters came back into the house and called for him. I knew that unless he was hiding, he wasn’t in the house. We then checked the back- yard, garage, and basement. There was absolutely no sign of my three year old. My wife rushed down one end of the street while my oldest daughter went down the other side of the street frantically calling out his name. Our hearts began to sink as we realized, Josiah was nowhere to be found. I grabbed my keys to the van and ran out quickly when I noticed a small head in the driver’s seat. For some reason, Josiah had climbed into the van and locked himself in. This could have turned out to be a tragedy as it was a hot day and Josiah could not get out of the van. Fortunately, the Lord was with us and our son is safe at home as I write this blog.

Song of Solomon 3:2 states “…I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him.” The author of Song of Solomon poetically writes in chapter three of the pain that is associated in love as it longs to have what it can not. The bride was longing for intimacy with her lover and for whatever reason, he was absent from her presence. This realization made her search for the one that her “heart loves.” As I read this scripture, I cannot help to think about how sick I felt when I realized my son was nowhere to be found. All I wanted to do was to find him and hold him and affirm in his life how much I love him. This incident in my life, however, became more than just a lesson on being a more attentive parent. I began to wonder about the times when I, like my son or like the lover in Song of Solomon, am missing from the One who longs for me to be in His presence. Does God long for us? Does he have the desire for intimacy and yet, we are nowhere to be found? Do you think that all He wants to do is to hold us and affirm His love to us?

Believe or not, God does long for us to be in His presence. As Jesus approached Jerusalem on His journey to the cross He cried out to His people “O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37). The last lines of that verse “…but you were not willing” is perhaps one of the saddest in scripture. How often does the Lord attempt to gather us into His presence and we, because of the rituals of life, are not willing? Like a young child who has lost his way, we find ourselves in places throughout the rigors of daily life where we should not be. The Lord calls out to us desiring an intimate time of worship and we are nowhere to be found. Too many times, we are captivated by other interests and the thought of being in the Kings chambers is not as interesting as exploring what this world has to offer. All the while, God longs for us knowing that wherever we are at, it is not a safe place.

Just as my son was fascinated with playing in the drivers’ seat of my car, he did not realize that it was a potential death trap if I would not have found him. The things of life which we may consider exciting and important may only be things which eventually destroy us. If we would but take the time to listen in the busyness of life, we may hear the voice of our Father calling out to us to come to that place that is safe in His arms of love. Just as the father of the prodigal son longed for his son to come home, our Heavenly Father longs for us when we decided to go our own way and leave him behind in the everyday activities of life. If we would just realize that this world can only offer us “pig slop” we would make it our habit to return to the Father as much as we can throughout the events of the day. I promise you one thing: whenever we respond to the longing of our Father’s heart, He will be there, running to us with arms open wide.