Protective Hulk Smash Dad: A Lesson In Trusting Our Heavenly Father

My Daddy Hulk-Smash was imperfect, but God is not...

Recently, our 8 year old son came to us and admitted that he was having a hard time at school because some kids were being mean to him.  These kids were doing their best Amish impressions and shunning him during recess.  His little heart was broken.  As he cried about how hurt he was about their rejection, our parent hearts broke.

This was especially difficult because of our 3 kids, young Jack is the friendliest and most adventure-prone of our kids.  His raw courage and complete lack of fear in virtually every aspect of life is remarkable to me.  As a kid who grew up in the grip of fear, it's been exciting watching Jackson embrace adventure!  While I often opted not to do things and embrace the safety of my couch as a child, Jackson is always ready to pounce on something new and adventurous.  On this night, however, he was a broken-hearted boy crying over his "terrible life" because of this rejection.  We hugged him, prayed with him and attempted to say the right things to him to make this better.

But somewhere deep inside me, a seething papa bear rage began to rise up.

A big of a HULK SMASH, if you will.

Suddenly, I fancied myself a massive green character in the Marvel Universe willing to smash and destroy anyone and anything that would dare hurt my boy.  I know what you are thinking, "this is a guy who works in children's ministry and he's blogging about attacking a bunch of 2nd graders?"

Yes.  Yes I am.  Of course, I wouldn't attack 2nd graders, but the desire to protect my son rose up within me with an unbridled passion.  I really didn't know what to do, but I felt such a protective urge to save my son at that moment.

Lately, God has been impressing on me the importance of trusting Him as a good Father.  We always talk about how God can protect us and God cares about us and how God is good.  We don't always walk that out.  Sometimes it is easier to believe that God is good from the sidelines, rather than in the excitement of the game.  Consider Jesus' teaching in Matthew 7:9-11:

"Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being 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!"

We've all read or heard that passage a million times.  You're probably reading this right now quipping sarcastically, "okay, Bill, are you going to cite John 3:16 too?  I already know this."

As misguided as my HULK SMASH rage in defense of my son was, it was rooted in this same Fatherly passion to protect his own that dominates the scripture.  We are SONS AND DAUGHTERS of God, He constantly reminds us through the Bible that as our FATHER, in all things HE works things out for our good.  He promises to never leave us nor forsake us. His fatherly love for us is perfect.  It is the perfection of fatherhood that we will never see in earthly fathers.  When we well up with passion to protect our kids, sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail.  When HE wells up with perfect passion to protect our kids, he conquers sin and death and opens a path to freedom.

As imperfect children here on earth, we will never fully understand the magnitude of His fatherly awesomeness.  And that's okay.  We can just rest in knowing that He is bigger than anything we will face and He is dying to provide for us in the way that only a perfect Father can.