If your parents have not been positive spiritual influences on your faith, you are not as alone as you may feel. Many have met and followed Christ without godly parents, and each of them has been fathered in a deeper, more meaningful way.

Many children begin walking with the Lord without parents to show them how. They hear, “Train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6), and wonder, But what about me? They see God calling fathers to “bring [their children] up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4), but their dad never even opened a Bible.

They strive to grow in faith, mature in godliness, and deepen their joy in God, but without a day in, day out model and guide. It can feel like the spiritual equivalent of Hatchet, the classic American novel for boys. Thirteen-year-old Brian, the son of divorced parents, is the sole survivor in a plane crash out in the Canadian wilderness and teaches himself how to make a shelter, hunt, fish, and forage for food, and start a fire — all with just a hatchet. Young Christians are often left to fend for themselves in their own homes, having to teach themselves how to pray, hear from God in his word, and pursue holiness — all with just a Bible.

And a Father in heaven. If your parents have not been positive spiritual influences on your faith, you are not as alone as you may feel. Many have met and followed Christ without godly parents, and each of them has been fathered in a deeper, more meaningful way.

Son Without a Father

If you feel like you’ve had to survive on a hope and a hatchet, you may be able to relate to Hezekiah. His father makes even the worst dads look okay. As king of Israel, he led a whole nation astray by making metal idols and then altars to worship his false gods. Instead of protecting and sanctifying God’s temple, Ahaz stole from it and shut its doors. Instead of caring for the precious sons God gave to him, he murdered his own children, burning Hezekiah’s brothers as offerings to false gods.

Ahaz contributed to Hezekiah’s walk with the Lord by showing him who not to be.

And yet, “Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old. . . . And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done” (2 Chronicles 29:1–2). Not his father Ahaz but his spiritual forefather (and kingly ancestor) David. When Hezekiah could not imitate his dad, he found a faithful man of God worthy of imitation.

Read More