Don’t Despair: God’s Children Had Problems, Too!

Posted on April 26, 2009 
Filed Under Focus on the Family Broadcast, Parenting

The Rev. Jim Cymbala, pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle, has often been a source of encouragement to parents. He openly shares about a particularly vulnerable moment in his life when his eldest daughter rebelled and left the home … and the church.  While you or I may not face that same situation, it goes to show that parents who try to do everything right can still watch as a son or daughter suffers from the consequences of sin.

Take this reality a step further and you find that God–the perfect parent–can relate to this same pain.  Consider what Rob Parsons, executive director of Care for the Family in the UK, writes in his book Bringing Home the Prodigals: “Adam and Eve had the perfect father and lived in the perfect environment but they chose a way their father didn’t want them to go.” Isn’t it freeing to know that God understands our challenges as parents?

So whether you’ve been disappointed by something small your child has done, or whether you’re working through the pain of a wayward son or daughter, understand that guilt is a common emotion, but not necessarily one you deserve.  Rob Parson’s ends his comment by pointing out: “There is nothing so soul-destroying as false guilt. Let it go. And begin to ask God the Father to reach out to your prodigals as only he can. Ultimately they are in his hands, not ours.

“And in truth, it was always so.”

Need some encouragement on this note?  Follow this link to a Focus on the Family broadcast and look for the box entitled “Related Articles.”


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