Crying Out for Daddy

I was eating lunch with my wife and daughter when suddenly a child began to scream. This was no ordinary scream. It was a sound of horror, fear, and concern. It was a desperate cry for help! It is common for children to make noise in public and to even cry out very loudly. On this occasion, every person in the sandwich shop fixed their eyes on this little boy. It was an undeniable call that moved us all. This boy was less than two, and his father had just stepped away for a moment, leaving him at the table alone. He could not see his father. When he realized he was gone his instincts took over. The father was quickly summoned and as soon as he picked up the boy there was silence. I have not seen something like that in a long time.

This event made me reflect on some things that are always true that I would like for you to consider:

1. Children need their parents. They need a mother and a father who will not leave them alone. They need involved parents who care for them, spend time with them, and love them. They need responsible parents who would never allow them to be in danger. They need parents who will always put the best interest of their children first. They need parents who will be obedient to God and teach them about Jesus.

2. We all are instinctively afraid of some things for a reason. God has placed in mankind a natural mode of protection from those things that we perceive as dangerous or threatening. Although our fears may differ somewhat based on our personalities, there are healthy fears that will keep us in a proper view of God's will for us and at times keep us from harm.

3. We need God! Human beings are born completely dependent. Spiritually speaking, God intended for us to stay dependent all of our lives. Each one of us should have the same desire for God that the little boy had for his daddy. How helpless we are with out God! How terrible and lonely and endangered we are without God! How deep our anguish, and how serious our cry without God!

When our Father appears, everything gets calm again. Everything is okay. There is no other solution to our cry than the loving, caring presence of our Father.

"For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.'" ~ Romans 8:15