There are many names for God in the Old Testament, many I’ve encountered as I’ve read through Isaiah. The LORD . . . the Holy One of Israel . . . the Mighty One of Jacob . . . the One who is high and lifted up . . . He whose name is Holy . . . the LORD of hosts . . . the God of the whole earth . . . the LORD, your Maker . . . the everlasting God. And there are more. But there’s one that I came across in my Isaiah reading this morning . . . one that jumped off the page . . . a name of God that you don’t find all that often in the Old Testament . . . a name repeated three times in my reading this morning . . . a name which stirs the heart like no other . . .

For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; You, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Your name. . . . But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we are all the work of Your hand.    (Isaiah 63:16, 64:8 ESV)

For the most part, when reading the Old Testament, I think I probably expect to encounter the Holy One of Israel . . . the God of Creation . . . the God surrounded by angels declaring He is holy, holy, holy . . . the awesome, powerful, and to be feared God. So, when I encounter the prophet declaring, “O LORD, You are our Father,” it arrests me . . . catches my attention . . . or, maybe it’s just flagged by the Holy Spirit as the Father’s way of saying, “Good morning, my son.”

While the names of God declare the nature of God, “our Father” reminds me of the Creator who desires relationship with His creation . . . the Potter who has made Himself known to the clay . . . the God who has redeemed for Himself a people He owns as His children.

You are our Father. Let that be the meditation of my heart this morning!

I know that the only reason this stirs my soul is that, by grace, I have received the Spirit of adoption . . . that, through faith, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into my heart, crying “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:6). The communion I enjoy being nothing I could have earned . . . but something which God alone, through Christ alone, has made provision for, so that “to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!    
(1John 3:1 NKJV)

While “the LORD of hosts” would propel me facedown in awe and worship as I contemplate His power and glory . . . “our Father” lifts my head and draws me near as I’m reminded of His great, great love for those He desires relationship with. To address Him as Father is to be reminded that I am His child . . . that He has redeemed me into His forever family . . . that His Son would call me brother . . . that I have been made a joint heir of the things which are Christ’s. O’ what manner of love!

You are my Father. That which it evokes within me is more easily felt than tell’t . . . but to say, “Thank you, Lord!”

I love all the multi-faceted names of God . . but how I praise Him this morning for the privilege of calling Him, “Our Father!”

To Him be all glory . . .