Thanksgiving Musings -- Yahweh's Gift

The other day I was watching the Gaither Israel Homecoming video, and one verse of one song really struck me. The song was "I Have Returned To the Faith of My Father," and the verse is the one which Mike Allen sings so beautifully:

"I have returned to the Yahweh of Judah
On my knees I did fall where the wall now stands
This lesson I’ve learned as I’ve worked my way homeward
The Savior of All is a Comfort to Man."

The rest of the song is excellent also, but this one verse stuck in my mind, repeating over and over like a broken record. I couldn’t remember the words to any of the other verses or even the chorus, but this one verse stayed in my mind all day until finally in the evening I began to think about the meaning of these words…and only then did it truly hit me what a marvelous gift Jehovah has given us.

Have you ever really thought about the fact that we are now adopted sons and daughters of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? The same God that Adam walked with, Joseph served, Moses talked with, David obeyed… The One whom Daniel stayed true to, Ruth converted to, Esther believed… The One whom Anna and Simeon recognized, John the Baptist preached, the disciples followed… The One whom the people saw crucified, then risen to life! The One whom Stephen saw as he was being stoned; the One whom Paul saw on the road to Damascus; the One whom John saw as Lord and King of the new heaven and new earth. This is the One – this is the Yahweh – that has taken us, dogs of Gentiles, the wild olive branches, and grafted us into the cultivated tree of His chosen people.

Of course I’ve always read verses like Romans 11:13-28, but I never really stopped to ponder it much. This is an amazing – and, I might add, completely and totally undeserved – gift of our Father. Do you realize that as adopted children, we now share the same Father as our Jewish brothers and sisters? They are the biological children, as His originally chosen people, but when they rejected Christ, salvation was opened up to us in this truly miraculous and amazing way.

Which brings me to something else I’ve been meaning to say. I mentioned this in one of the first posts I ever made, but I haven’t discussed it in quite a while now.

The title of my blog is Daddy’s Girl, and the description is I’m a child of my loving earthly father, and of my loving Heavenly Father. Now I know this isn’t exactly original with me, but I really appreciate a constant reminder that God is my Father. Matter of fact, He isn’t just my Father, He’s my Daddy – the literal meaning of Abba! That means I can go to Him anytime with anything, He’s always willing to listen, He’s always loving, never too busy. Think about that – the Yahweh Jehovah, whose Name is so holy that no Hebrew would ever pronounce It, that every scribe would have to perform ritual purification washings before writing It, He is now our Daddy, who wants us to talk with Him, walk with Him, trust in Him, be guided by Him, and spend all of eternity with Him.

’El ‘Elyon (Most High God)
’El Shaddai (God of Might)
’El ‘Olam (Yahweh, I AM, the Eternal God)
Yahweh-jireh (the LORD who provides)
Yahweh-rohi (the LORD Our Shepherd )
’El-Roi (the God Who Sees)
Yawheh-rapha (the LORD is our Healer )
Yahweh-Shammah (The LORD is Here)
Yahweh-Shalom (The LORD is Peace)

Now if you ask me, that’s something to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving! :)