7 Biblical Fathers Who Encourage Strength in Today’s Dads
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Father’s Day is a holiday that causes a variety of emotions for people. Some have had great fathers and will celebrate the day with a great meal and celebration. Others may have lost their dads, so the day brings a certain amount of sorrow. Or perhaps people have had bad or absent fathers, and they avoid the holiday altogether.
God created fatherhood, modeled after himself. The Lord designed each of us to have a great dad. Yet we live in a broken world, corrupt and marred by sin. None of us have had perfect fathers. Thankfully, God provides himself as the Father we need, through Christ.
Being a great dad is an honorable thing to aspire to. And like all important topics, Scripture gives us direction. And even if a person doesn’t have children of their own, the broken world needs men to act like godly fathers.
Here are seven examples of strong fathers in the Bible.
1. Abraham, the Father of Faith
God called Abraham to leave his homeland and follow the Lord into a new, unknown land, and Abraham obeyed. He left comfort and safety, and he trusted God’s promises: a nation, a son, and blessing to all nations.
Abraham’s faith in God made him the “father of many nations” (Genesis 17:4). While imperfect, Abraham trusted the Lord to do the impossible. Abraham was old, as was his wife, Sarah, and they had been barren for many years. Yet he believed in God for a son. A few years after the miracle boy was born, God asked Abraham to offer his child as a sacrifice. Abraham still trusted and obeyed, believing God could raise the boy from the dead to fulfill his promise (Hebrews 11:7-19).
Abraham didn’t pass down wealth or a stable area of land. His legacy was faith. “For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just” (Genesis 18:19). Abraham passed on this trust and belief to his children and the nations after him – even to us today.
Good fathers realize the greatest thing we can pass on is faith. We step out and surrender to God’s ways. A strong father walks in the Spirit, trusting God, obeying in self-sacrifice. This builds a powerful spiritual legacy to the following generations.
2. Job, Who Prayed for His Children
God introduces Job as a righteous man, and part of his model includes a father who leads his family in prayer. Along with his integrity and the correct fear of God, Job acted with spiritual concern for his children. After the family would have a feast, Job would rise early in the morning to offer burnt offerings as intercession for them, saying, “It may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts” (Job 1:5). He did this regularly.
Job didn’t assume his kids believed, even seeing their outward actions. He understood sin and rebellion begins in the heart, which he couldn’t control. But God could address the hidden parts of them. So Job prayed and sacrificed for them before the Lord. This revealed his heart, fearing God and knowing his position as provider and spiritual leader. Job took a priestly role over his household, which he continued to do for his friends after his great and awful testing.
Godly fathers don’t only provide material things; they understand the most important role remains to intercede for their family, wife, and kids. A strong father doesn’t just protect the physical home, he prays for his family’s salvation, growth, and endurance in faith. That kind of father leaves an eternal impact.
3. Noah, Righteous in His Generation
Noah stood in righteousness when the world around him dove headfirst into sin and violence. While the community around him only thought of sin, Noah found favor with God because he walked in righteousness. “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God” (Genesis 6:9). Noah lived in a certain time and context, and his obedient walk with God made a statement to the world around him.
Because of this, God chose Noah to build an ark, to save the animals and his family from the coming judgment, a great flood. As Noah obeyed before, he continued to do the same. He paid attention to every detail, preaching salvation even though many mocked him. Also, it had never rained, so he appeared even more foolish. Yet his faith in his day saved both his family and the future of humanity.
Fathers today can learn from Noah’s example. Like him, we’ve been born into a specific time and place. God leads us in real ways to impact our generation, preaching God through our words and actions. We’ve been born and chosen for a time like this. We may not be called to build a boat, but by faith, the Father leads us to stand for truth and integrity, even though the world may love the lies. We lead our families to obey God even when the world refuses to. Our faith blesses others in our care.
4. Jacob, Who Left His Children with a Blessing
Jacob was a flawed man with a complicated past. However, God remained faithful to his covenant with Abraham and used Jacob. Bringing the man into his redemptive story, God gave him a new name, Israel, and brought a nation out of him. Through failures and struggles, the Lord encountered Jacob many times over his life. His story shows us how, even if a man has some flaws, a father can leave a blessing with perseverance and personal growth.
Days before his death, Jacob gathered his sons to speak a prophetic word over each one. “Then Jacob called for his sons and said: ‘Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come’” (Genesis 49:1). These blessings weren’t simply nice things to say as a goodbye but Spirit-led oracles to reveal the future of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob spoke these while his family stayed in Egypt, but Israel’s destiny wasn’t in that land but the promise back in Canaan. His words were written down to remind the Israelites of God’s plan for them.
A man might feel weakness because of his past failings, but in God, he can also finish strong like Jacob. God can still redeem a broken past for a father to leave a lasting spiritual legacy by blessing his children. This blessing calls children to their destiny and purpose, into the future, and trusting God to fulfill his mission.
5. Zechariah, Who Gave the Right Name
Zechariah gave his son the name given by God. As a priest, Zechariah first questioned the angel’s declaration that he and his wife Elizabeth would bear a son in their old age. Because of his doubt, God struck him mute until the child’s birth. When the boy arrived, Zechariah followed God’s revelation regarding the name. “He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, ‘His name is John’” (Luke 1:63).
In the Jewish culture of that day, sons would carry a family name, perhaps the father’s, as children carried their legacy. God called Zechariah to break with tradition, to name the child “John.” This astonished those in attendance, as no one in his family had that name. Zechariah surrendered his son to the will of God. Immediately after writing his message, Zechariah could speak, and he praised God. Zechariah prophesied regarding John’s future role as forerunner of the Messiah (Luke 1:76).
Just like with the name, the son was supposed to take on his father’s career. Zechariah served as a priest, but John took a different path, preparing the way for Jesus as prophet. The father submitted to God’s plan for the son.
As fathers, we follow this example by setting aside our own expectations and wishes. We seek God’s heart for our kids, speaking life and prophetic truth over our children. A strong father doesn’t try to control the child’s future. He listens to the Spirit and supports God’s call on their life.
6. Joseph, Who Adopted and Protected Jesus
Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, showed his amazing strength through self-sacrificial compassion and courage. When he first found out Mary was pregnant, he had every right to divorce her or possibly worse. However, he chose quiet mercy over shame. “Because Joseph was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly” (Matthew 1:19). Joseph revealed his strong character.
Then God intervened. In a dream, the angel Gabriel told Joseph the Holy Spirit had conceived the child. In addition, this divine child would be the Savior. Gabriel instructed Joseph to marry his fiancée and act as father to Jesus. Joseph obeyed, adopting the child. Again, he named the child “Jesus” to obey God. He further stepped up to protect Mary on the way to Bethlehem and their later escape to Egypt to avoid King Herod’s violence. Joseph raised Jesus and taught him a trade, carpentry.
Joseph could have walked away and no one would have thought him wrong. Instead, he stayed, loved, led, and raised the Messiah, despite not being his blood father. In this, he revealed the love of God, who adopts us into his heavenly family (Romans 8:15).
We also show the world God’s abundant love when we keep showing up, giving self-sacrificially, having the courage to follow God’s voice. A good father doesn’t seek his own selfish glory. He protects and provides, faithfully being a father to his own and the community around him.
7. God, the Good Father
Every example of a good father points to the ultimate and perfect Father in heaven. He is just, holy, and strong. At the same time, he is loving, patient, and generous with good gifts to his children. Jesus’ teachings centered on two things: the Kingdom of God and the love of the Father, which are connected because God’s love invites us into his Kingdom. “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).
Scripture counts God as a faithful Father. He disciplines and corrects in love (Hebrews 12:6), provides for daily needs (Matthew 6:26), and brings mercy and comfort to the brokenhearted (Psalm 103:13). He loves us personally with an unchanging love. He bears us by the Spirit (John 3:5-6) and chooses to adopt us into his family through Christ. As children, we are coheirs with Jesus, promising an eternal and secure inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-4), a good future.
We may not have had the best fathers. In some way, even great fathers have flaws and made mistakes. Now, being children of God through Christ, we can learn from the perfect example to grow and be the blessing to our own families and communities God calls us to be. And in the process, we call others to the Lord, too, since we’re not perfect, either. He is the good Father we all need.
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