Good Gifts

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I must admit I have been blessed with a great father. When I was a child he knew when to be stern and when to be kind and loving. My father has always loved me even when I was a rebellious teen and was very difficult to love! Some people carry childhood emotional baggage that skews their perceptions about the goodness of God. These individuals often come from an abusive background, so their ability to trust a father figure has been severely damaged. To them, God lives only to bring them grief. In Jesus Sermon on the Mount, He speaks to these injured souls, saying that God is an exceedingly loving Father who gives good gifts to His children. Jesus asks the crowd, if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

Matthew 7:11 ESV If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 

As I said in the beginning I have been blessed. I have both a good and loving father and a good and loving mother, both have remained married to each other their entire lives. As of October 2025 they will have been married 61 years and that is no small accomplishment! In the US, a significant portion of families experience a breakup, roughly 50% of children witness their parents divorce and a substantial number live in single-parent households, around 23%, giving the US the world's highest rate of children in this type of household. About 16% of children live in blended families with a stepparent, step-sibling, or half-sibling. Children whose parents divorce have a higher likelihood of experiencing behavioral problems. From these facts you can see how it could be difficult for people to trust a Heavenly father when they have been let down by their earthly father. 

Psalm 37:25 ESV I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. 

God wants His children to open their hearts in total dependence upon Him, trusting that they are safe and secure in His embrace. The Lord won’t trick us by giving us a stone instead of bread. Nor will He mock our prayers by presenting us with something harmful, like a snake instead of a fish. If we need food, He won’t abandon us or leave us begging for bread. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us, from God our Father. Just like my father took such great care of me when I was a child, I can trust that my heavenly Father will take good care of me because I am His treasured child and because He loves perfectly. Our earthly parent are only human and even the best ones will fall short, but God's love is perfect and eternal. The heavenly Father knows what’s best for His kids. He gives them what they need and not what harms them. Believers can trust God completely; because He is truly good, He cannot give anything but what is good. 

Romans 8: 31-32 ESV What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 

I hope with all my heart that like me you were blessed with a good and loving earthly father. But if you were not no matter how badly you may have suffered, the Bible offers hope and comfort to broken adults who still carry the scars of childhood abuse and abandonment. 

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