Run to the Father

by Ross Weaver

We live in a chaotic and uncertain time. Often, we are overwhelmed by it all and desperately seek release from the mounting pressure that is applied to us seemingly from every side. Whether it is work, home, family, or just the fallen world around us, we seek solace; often from sources that fail to measure up. 

“In you, O Lord, do I take my refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me! Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me. A strong fortress to save me!” (Psalm 31:1-2)

I love the emotion in these verses from David! David was a man after God’s own heart. He knew what it was like to be pressed on all sides, to literally have death at his doorstep. In these times, he bared his soul before the Father. The Enemy would have you do anything but turn and run to the Father in these times, but I am convinced that God, in his divine grace, shows us through secular ways as well as Biblical that He desires us to come to him and seek refuge from the storm.

The Father’s arrow defeats the enemy

I regularly cringe when one of my favorite books has been through an adaptation for the big screen. As cliché as it sounds, many times the “best stuff” is really left on the cutting room floor. However, I can think of one instance in which the adaptation of one particular scene in the Hobbit movies, may have been better than the book. Hold on my fellow Tolkien brethren! Don’t take out hardened Lembas bread to stone me, just hear me out on this one. 

(I highly recommend watching the scene on YouTube and then coming back to this blog, because my words will not do this thing justice.)

In the movies, Lake Town is literally burning down around Bard and his son. The last black arrow capable of bringing down the dragon Smaug is in Bard’s possession, but the mounted siege crossbow on the turret is shattered. Bard has wedged the limbs of the splintered crossbow into broken pilings and his son, Bain, is acting as a living rest for the black arrow. Smaug circles back, fire and desolation raging all around, and taunts them as our enemy does to us.

“Tell me wretch…how do you now challenge me? You have nothing left, but your death!”

Smaug roars, and Bain turns toward him in fear. Bard calls his name,

“Bain…look at me…look at me.” 

Bain looks back into the eyes of his father and sets his face towards him. The audience can see from Bard’s perspective the dragon bearing down to deliver the death blow to him and his son.

“A little to your left…” 

The father speaks, the son obeys, and the black arrow speeds through the air piercing the heart of Smaug the dragon, and evil is destroyed. 

I have a confession to make, I can’t watch this scene without crying…I mean like 16-year-old girl ugly crying. You see, I can’t help but think of God the Father and Jesus the Son in the garden of Gesthsemane the night he was arrested. Both knew how costly the price would be. Jesus, in his darkest hour knowing what was to come, ran to the Father. The Father speaks, the Son obeys, and evil is ended.

The Father’s arrow rescues from death

Another account that further reinforces the natural reaction we should have to run to the father is the story of Ron Leming Jr. and his father, Ron Leming Senior. I read about this story in a publication of Outdoor Life Magazine a few years ago and was blown away.

 Ron Jr. and his dad were archery elk hunting in Wyoming, 13 miles away from the nearest road, back in September of 2008. Ron Sr. had missed opportunities in the first two days of the trip on two different bulls. The morning of the third day he was a bit downcast, but as they set out that morning he prayed.

“God, guide my arrow today and let it find its mark.”

When the two hunters got to the location they planned to hunt, Ron Jr. hiked up the hill 30-40 yards above his father and began a cow elk calling sequence. He thought he heard movement behind him but saw nothing. Slowly turning back to look at his father, he saw the herd of elk they were hunting bounding away, which he found odd since he and his father had the wind in their favor. Ron Jr. heard a branch snap behind him. He turned and saw a male grizzly bear staring back at him 15 feet away.  Being an experienced western hunter, Ron Jr. stood up, waved his hands to alert the bear of his presence, and yelled at the bear to ward it away. The bear was on him in seconds and Ron Jr. took off running straight downhill to his father. As Ron Jr. was running toward his father with the enraged bruin only steps behind him, he saw a yellow streak fly past his right leg. Two steps later he was on the ground, not knowing if he had tripped or the bear had taken him down, but now the bear was on top of him. 

Blood sprayed Ron Jr.’s face and clothes but he didn’t know if it was his own or from the bear as he fought to keep the bear’s jaws from his face and neck. Somehow, he broke free and attempted to climb in the low fork of a nearby tree, but the grizzly pulled him back down. Ron Jr. heard his father and looked back to see Ron Sr. yelling at the bear and hitting it across its back and shoulders with his bow.

The bear turned its attention to Ron Sr., took a few steps toward him, and ran from the father back downhill.

Ron Jr. would soon find out that God heard his father’s prayer.  The “yellow streak” he saw while running for his life, was his father’s arrow.  As his son was running towards him, death seconds behind him, Ron Sr. made the incredible and desperate choice of loosing an arrow in the direction of his son in an effort to save him from certain death. When Ron Jr. asked his father what was going through his head, his father simply said,

“All I could think of was that bear getting a hold of you and possibly killing you, my son.”

He is our Father

This love of the Father isn’t just for literary characters or people on elk hunts. It is for you and for me. We were made for this kind of love and protection! We were made for this relationship! Jesus took down every barrier when he died for every sin that would ever be committed and rose from the grave victorious over sin and death!

When you put your faith, trust, and allegiance in who Jesus is and what He accomplished on your behalf, He makes you a child of God. He brings you into His family by the life, death, and resurrection of the perfect Son of God, and you are welcomed into all the glorious benefits of sonship. Life with the Father, perfect love, and complete hope in His sovereign will.

Believe this truth and remember no matter how chaotic or uncertain our times may be, we have a Father that we can run to, who is waiting with arms wide open, and the strength to see us through.