Our Father's Heart

A brother Christopher shared last Sunday in church about the Father's heart as it was Father's Day. What is the Father's Heart? What's on His heart? Who or what is His heart for?

From the bible, it is not difficult to see that God's heart is for the hungry and the poor (Matt 25, the widow and fatherless (Exodus22:22, Deu 10:18 etc). But what Dr May said during my lessons in TCA probes me to think deeper: "God's heart is for the marginalised". Who are the "marginalised"?

Firstly, I think about the oppressed such as the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) . Pastor William Lee taught 2 Sundays ago not to read John 4 as Jesus "confronting" the woman about her immoral sins when He asked her that question "Where is your husband?". He said Jesus was not condemning the woman with that question because this woman could have had 5 husbands not out of her own will, especially in the context of her time and culture whereby men had the liberty to abandon their wives and take new wives as they like. Rather, he pointed out that Jesus was in fact pointing to the emptiness in the woman's heart and her longing for the love of a true husband. This makes me think of the divorced women in our society who are often stigmatised, divorced especially because the husband had committed adultery. Though I am convinced that God hates divorce and am opposed to divorce as He is opposed to adultery, His heart is for the wronged and divorced spouse, to deliver him/her from bitterness and unforgiveness and give him/her a second chance when he/she is ready....I also think of the oppressed wife, daughter-in-law in marriages today....

The second group of people I can think of are the disadvantaged (esp. from birth) such as the handicapped and the disabled. Some people may ask if God's heart is for the handicapped or disabled, why in the first place did He make them that way? To that, I can only find one answer - "God is not omni-causal". The truth is we live in a deformed, sin-stained world. Even our very DNA can be deformed!!!

Just a side-track: our DNA also affect our personality and this explains why many of us have a "dark isde" to our personality. But May Ling shared with me a rather corny but appropriate acronym for DNA - Divine Nature Applied, hehe. Our deformed DNA can be transformed into the Divine Nature and likeness of Christ!

Another group of disadvantaged people could be the unwanted child, the child who was given away, the child born out of rape or adultery, the child least favoured in a family etc. These people are born with a naturally low self-esteem. I know because I belong to one of these. To this group of people, Psalm 139 should hold special meaning and significance..."for I saw you in your mother's womb..."

I can think of others - the broken-hearted, abused, the exploited, the deprived, the ones who fell from great positions of high prestige to positions of humility and disgrace... God's heart are for these people. We don't have to travel to mission fields in India or China or Indonesia to see God's heart. His heart can be seen in the lives of real, living people around us whose lives God has and is continuing to touch...

This is what our Lord Jesus meant when He refered to His missions God gave Him in Isaian 61:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to preach good news to the POOR.

He has sent me to bind up the BROKEN-HEARTED,

to proclaim freedom for the CAPTIVES

and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who MOURN,

and provide for those who GRIEVE in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of DESPAIR.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the LORD

for the display of his splendor.

If you are poor, broken-hearted, in despair, down and out, in sorrow, mourning or grieving, God's heart is for you.