The heart that bleeds for a father’s missteps knows something of the Father’s own grief. Father!, Oh what a precious word is that! Here is authority. "If I am a Father, where is My honor?" If you are sons, where is your obedience? Yet a father is a father still, though his child is dragged in the mire, although he spits in his very father's face. This is the sorrow that sharpens your cry, and it is well that you bring it to the throne, for those who are desperately earnest in a wrong way may do much mischief to others, and they should be especially the subject of our prayers. That energy, if enlightened by the Spirit, would burn with a holy flame; the man who is zealous but wrong, if you can but show him his error, will be just as earnest in the right way. Pray on, then, that the Lord would open his mind to discern what is right and what is wrong, for the man who says, "I have kept the Law" is simply ignorant of the righteousness which the Law of God sets before us. The very zeal that now drives him into darkness, once captured by grace, would make him a trophy of divine power.
But you must see the Father aright, or your prayers will mingle with dread. When the Divine Father is viewed aright, He becomes the object of our gratitude, not of our dread. He says, "He that has seen Me has seen the Father," and, "I say not that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you." The love of the Father is, in all respects, equal to the love of the Son! You do not come to a judge, but to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the true view of the Father, He is our Father, our God, our Savior's Father, our Savior's God. Let us delight ourselves in Him and magnify and bless His name. In your storm, cling to this: He is the orphan’s Father, for in you the fatherless find mercy. He trusts his heavenly Father as a child, he does not know what he may require today, or in the unknown future, but then his heavenly Father knows and he leaves it all to Him. Cast this burden of your father’s wrong decisions upon the Lord; you shall find Him a better Father than the best of fathers could ever be.
There is no attribute more comforting to His children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. If not a sparrow falleth to the ground without our Father, we are sure that no great calamity can befall us apart from Him. You fear your family may be brought to misery through one man’s sin, yet remember that the dry tree by divine grace shall flourish; the green tree, deserted by the dew of heaven, shall dry up. The low tree, fostered by the Husbandman, shall mount even to the stars. He exalts the low tree, and He can lift your father from the pit. The Lord God has prepared for man a perfect and Divine righteousness, by which He justifies the ungodly! He has sent His own Son into the world, pure in heart and pure in life, to work out that righteousness. Trust to that divine method of cleansing the filthy, for the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses from all sin everyone who believes in Him. Pray that this righteousness, not his own strivings, would be revealed to your father.
Expect divine interpositions. The impetuous character of the simile here used shows that the Prophet looked upon the Divine visitation as the one thing needed for Israel. It is well for the prodigal to arise and go to his Father, but the saving moment comes when his Father meets him. "When he was yet a great way off, his Father saw him and ran and had compassion on him and fell upon his neck and kissed him", there was the actual salvation! Plead for that meeting. And while you wait, cultivate a spirit entirely in harmony with the Divine Will, thanking Him that He has done all things according to His own purpose, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight." This submission is not passivity; it is the strength to strive, for Divine Grace is not to be had while you are half asleep. Strive, strive, for many will seek in vain to enter. Let that sigh, that tear, that wish grow into holiness of life and zeal of conduct as you watch for His appearing.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has delivered your soul from death, your eyes from tears, and your feet from falling, and He will do so again. Keep your family safe beneath His wings; He doeth no wrong. The only harbor is the Divine Presence, the one hope of the people of God. Should He rend the heavens and come down, the darkness that influences your father’s decisions would dissolve like glaciers in the summer sun. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
