“The father . .who has a wise child delights in them.“ Proverbs 23:24 NIV

“A father’s delight reaches deeply into your heart throughout their lifetime, as well as yours.”

My thoughts today are about “a father’s pride and joy.”

This weekend is Father’s Day. Some time ago, I came across a yellowed note from my Mom had written nearly fifteen years ago. As I read her words, I was unprepared for my emotional reaction. She wrote about our family and ministry bu these words leaped off the page and into my heart, “Your Dad would be so proud of you, as I am.” You see my Dad died in a highway accident when I was just 21, newly married and a senior in college, and now in my mid sixties my eyes became moist as I read those words. It was not a new revelation. My Dad showed and  spoke often of his sentiments. Somehow even now, that record of his pride and joy stirred something deep within my heart.

I was not prepared for how such a simple statement of my Dad’s and Mom’s feelings about me on a piece of yellowed stationary would still mean so much to me after all of these years since his death, and more recently hers. “The father of the righteous has great joy; he who has a wise child delights in them.” Proverbs 23:24 NIV. That I could give my parents delight after all they had given me was and is my greatest joy.

I was struck by the clear fact that a father’s joy and delight reaches deeply into your heart through their lifetime, and even beyond – continuing throughout your own lifetime. To be reminded of my Dad’s love and pride in me meant as much, if not more, at this stage of my life as it did when I was young and he was alive. But I am sure that though he would commend whatever accomplishments with which God has graced my life – he would be most proud that I was carrying on the faith I learned at his knee and from his pulpit. He was my pastor as well as my Dad.

How do you think Jesus felt at the Jordan River when the voice of God from Heaven declared, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased?” Reading those words, you can feel the Father’s pride – His joy and delight – and know the moral and spiritual strengthening that Jesus experienced as He first set out to do the Father’s will. It would yet be three and a half years before Jesus would say, “I have finished the work that You gave Me to do,” and before Jesus would hang on a cross and cry to the Father, “It is finished, “ as He died for you and me.

Now as a Dad and grandfather, I know what that kind of delight feels like. When I see the good and Godly man, husband, and dad our son has become, and the Godly woman, wife, and mom our daughter has become, and growing grandchildren who love and live for Jesus, Gayle and I are grateful for God’s kindness to the Randolph family.

Joy and delight hardly describe the satisfaction that we find in knowing our children and their spouses along with our grandchildren are committed to walking in righteousness and Godly wisdom. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 4. Whatever you achieve in life, it will be secondary to the knowledge that you have embraced faith, and given that faith to your family.

My prayer for you today is that you live wisely that the Father may delight in you.