Words With God: A 5-Day Reading Plan From Addison BevereSample

Finding the Father

Who do you pray to? Who is the God you encounter?

Quiet your mind and identify the person or being on the other side of your prayers. Where did this image of God come from? How was it formed in your mind? Can you recall any pictures, experiences, stories, or relationships that led you to this image?

Let’s go a bit deeper—how does your god respond to your pain, confusion, and brokenness? Or to your needs, desires, and longings to be loved and accepted? What causes this god to engage with your plight, to care for your requests, to heed your prayers? Does your god tolerate, like, or love you?

It’s okay to stop reading for a moment and get alone with your thoughts. Gather some answers by sitting with the question: Why do I see God the way I do?

You and I cannot afford to leave these questions unanswered, for how we see God determines how we see everything else. That is why one of prayer’s main purposes is to help us reconcile (or integrate) our questions and pain with God’s redemptive and eternal nature.

Considering the meanness of religiosity and the absence of fathers in homes today, you may view God as someone (or something) who is distant and impersonal. You might wonder, Where was this heavenly Father when [fill in the blank] happened?

God, maybe like your biological dad, is a presence you long to know but can never seem to corner. Someone who doesn’t show up when it counts, yet demands your obedience. A relational figment of your imagination, sustained by your need for protection, guidance, intimacy.

You might crave paternal affection and intimacy, but your hopes have been crushed too many times. And now you are scared or unwilling to reach out to someone who just doesn’t seem to be there, much less answer when you call.

As you wrestle with your questions, you’ll see that there are thoughts that need to be identified so they can be challenged, affirmed, explored, or denied. As you explore the mystery and intimacy of prayer, I’d recommend keeping that question How do I see God? front and center.

At the heart of all disintegration, both internal and external, is a broken view of God.

There is a reason, after all, why Jesus taught us to pray, “Father.”