Do you really know your Daddy?

Photo by John Fairrington

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Do you know your daddy as well as He knows you?

1 John 3:1-20
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

We have a father that knows our hearts and doesn’t condemn us.
This article in the London Herald many years ago, reads as follows.

Girl saved after first hospital condemned her to die by first doctors
SURGEONS HAVE saved the life of a three-year-old girl 18 months after her parents were told by cardiologists at another hospital her heart condition was inoperable and that she would die. 
Doctors at Leeds General Infirmary told Hannah Harkness's parents in January last year that she was too weak to withstand heart surgery and had three months to live. The couple refused to accept the prognosis, sought a second opinion and the child was referred to the cardiology unit at the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, where she was cleared for surgery in May last year. After two operations, she has now been given a clean bill of health.  
Karen and Colin Harkness, from Selby, North Yorkshire, who have eight children, are planning legal action against the Leeds hospital which, they claim, could have saved her. 
Mr Harkness, 36, a security alarms engineer, said parents should realize that they "don't need to take a consultant or doctor's word as the be all and end all". 
He said: "It makes you wonder how many children have died in the past. We want parents who may be in our situation to be aware that they should not just give up. We were made to suffer terribly and we just want the hospital to know how much hurt they caused. We just felt they wrote her life off. We believe they were negligent and incompetent and we feel that had we not gone for a second opinion Hannah would now be dead." Hannah was seven days old when doctors at the Leeds hospital's cardiology unit diagnosed a rare chromosome disorder, a deficient immune system and congenital heart disease. Her development and speech were also found to be slow. Tests showed she had two holes in her heart and an open duct that required surgery. 
At first, the unit decided that Hannah did not need treatment and that she did not need to return to the hospital for another year. But in August  she was struck down with a viral infection and became seriously ill. 
Her condition continued to deteriorate over the next months, and in January last year her parents were called to the hospital for a meeting with doctors. They expected to be told that surgeons would operate, but were advised instead that the heart was irreparable, a transplant was out of the question and there was no hope. Mrs Harkness, 33, said: "We took Hannah home that weekend and none of us spoke for two days. We just sat and hugged our little girl. They didn't say it, but they were sending her home to die." 
The couple spoke to cardiologists and support groups before making contact with the Freeman Hospital, where the two holes in Hannah's heart were repaired and the open duct plugged. Last week, a further hole in Hannah's heart was treated, and she is now recovering at home. 
In a statement, the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said the functioning of Hannah's heart was "very poor" in January and the decision not to operate was taken between a consultant cardiologist and a cardiac surgeon. 
"It was felt the risks associated with the surgery were too high," said the statement. "We haven't been informed officially but we are aware the family is planning legal action." 
Mrs Harkness said: "We thought long and hard and I determined I knew my childs heart better than anyone else did. As a Father I was not able to condemn her to death so easily! So I assured her everything was going to be allright and we began the process of doing evrything we could. Now we have a healthy happy daughter.
"We decided we have to show doctors that the decisions they make are so important to people's lives. They should have at least offered us a second opinion." Turns out the opinion of a father was much more important.
No more heart disease. No more condemnation!

 Now this is a great story about the condition and circumstances surrounding the physical heart. But how much more glorious it is to be free from condemnation in the spiritual heart, for you see, when our heart is free from condemnation spiritually, we have confidence toward God. If, on the other hand, you don’t have confidence with God because your heart condemns you, John has good news for you as well. “God is greater than our heart,” he says, “and He knows all things.”
What does God know? He knows a lot.…

Psalm 103:13
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.     

When my heart reminds me that I’m not doing what I could be and that I’m not as loving as I should be, God reminds me that He knows I’m only made of dust.

2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.     

Immediately after a mother penguin lays her egg, she heads out to sea for a three-month eating binge, leaving Dad on the ice flow to stand on the egg and keep it warm until she returns. Then it’s Dad’s turn to take to sea and grab a bite to eat. By the time he returns, the egg has hatched. Yet, although there are millions of penguins on the ice flow dressed exactly alike, and although he has never even seen his offspring, he’ll go directly to his own baby.

So, too, God says, “I know those who are Mine.”
If you’ve ever been to Yellowstone or watched the Bison in a times of confusion and commotion, or when they are under attack they will huddle up and gather the calve into their protection.  You’ve seen parents act the same way as they immediately, instinctively, intuitively gather their kids around them. They don’t say, “You’re on your own.” No, when there’s danger, disaster, or difficulty, a parent gathers every one of his kids around him. This is the amazing thing about our heavenly Father. He gathers them all. Even though your heart may condemn you, God knows you are His, and He will gather you as well.

John 2:23–25
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. 
   
Jesus was in Jerusalem at Passover and many believed in His name when they saw the miracles He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them because He knew they wouldn’t be able to keep their commitment to Him. Although they were impressed with His miracles, although they were amazed by His presence and power, knowing they didn’t understand what was asked of them, He didn’t hold them to their commitment. You see this is why I know that My Heavenly Father is just as much or even more so into promise breakers as he is in to promise keepers.

Psalm 139:1–6
O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.     

The Lord knows my ups and downs, my failings, vulnerabilities, and shortcomings. He knows all about me. And He knows everything about you, for He put you together. He knows how you are, what you are, who you are.
Did you know that If you are of average weight and height, here is what you will go through in an average twenty-four-hour period: Your heart will beat 103,689 times. Your blood will travel 168 million miles as your heart pumps approximately 4 ounces per beat. You will breathe 23,040 times, inhaling 438 cubic feet of air. Your stomach will take in three and a half pounds of food and 2.9 quarts of liquid. You will lose seven eighths of a pound of waste. If you are a man, you will speak 4,800 words, and if you are a woman, you will speak close to 7,000 words. You will move 750 muscles and exercise 7 million brain cells.
I can’t understand it! My finite, little, pee brain can’t perceive how He holds every thing together and keeps it all working. It is too wonderful for me to perceive how His hand is upon me.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  

Here are some random “Please excuse my child from school” notes I think dads might find interesting. These are real absence excuses sent to a school from the Fathers who should have never been allowed to have kids. They go along way to demonstrate our fickleness as Fathers and the thoughts we think toward our children. By the way it would seem most Fathers couldn’t spell.
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• Dear school please accuse John from being absent on January 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also 33.
• Please excuse Dianne from being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps.
• I had to keep Billie home because she had to go Christmas shopping because I didn't know what size she ware.

• Please excuse Johnny for being. It was his Mother's fault. 

• Mary could not come to school because she was bothered by very close veins.  
• Chris will not be in school cuz he has an acre in his side.  

• John has been absent because he had two teeth taken off his face.  

• Excuse Gloria. She has been under the doctor.  

• Lillie was absent from school yesterday because she had a going over.  

• My son is under the doctor's care and should not take fizaca ed. Please execute him.  

• Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was hurt in the growing part.  

• My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent this weekend with the Marines.  

• Please excuse Joyce from P.E. for a few days. Yesterday she fell off a tree and misplaced her hip. 

• Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very loose vowels. 

• Maryann was absent December 11-16 because she had a fever, sore throat, headache, and upset stomack. Her sister was also sick, fever and sore throat, her brother had a low grade fever and ached all over. I wasn't the best either, sore throat and fever. There must be the flu going around, her father even got hot last night.

• George was absent yesterday because he had a stomach.  

• Ralph was absent yesterday because he had a sore trout.  

• Please excuse Wayne for being out yeaterday, because he had the fuel.  

• Please excuse Sarah for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot. 
Now back to our verse

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.     

When did God say this? It was when His people were headed into captivity. For seventy years, the Jewish people would go through difficult days and tough times in Babylon. Yet the Lord said, “I know what I’m doing. It might look brutal and bleak to you—but it’s all to bring you to a glorious end.”
And that is the beauty of being in the care of the Heavenly Father because; the same is true for you and me.
When our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts. He knows all things. He knows we are made of dust, that we make promises we can’t keep, and that we are bound to fall and fail. He knows we're just trying to do our best sometimes and it doesn’t work out the way we like. He knows we sometimes feel like failures. He knows we hate trying to write out absence excuses. Yet He also knows that we are His and that He has a glorious plan for our lives. What a Miracle!
The One who knows us best loves us most. So do you really know your Daddy as well as He knows you?
You owe it to yourself to ask Him the question, "Who are You?" And, see what happens next!