3 “When a young woman still living in her father’s household makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge 4 and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every pledge by which she obligated herself will stand. 5 But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; the LORD will release her because her father has forbidden her.
Numbers 30:3-5
He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
Malachi 4:6
As every person knows, there are rites of passage that take place in one's life. Our babies become toddlers, then children, growing and learning, and then it's on into the teenaged years. There is a natural process that takes place as children grow up, wanting to stretch their wings, preparing to fly, tempered by a godly Father's responsibility to protect and cover his children, especially his daughters. This can be trying at times! But there is a peculiar relationship that exists between a father and his daughters, and the daughter is always meant to be under the authority of her father, until that responsibility is transferred to her husband. As Christians, we don't do what we what to because we are the property of the One who paid for us- Jesus. It is not we who live, but Him, and so Christian daughters must know and understand the value of having their dads as authority figures over them, the father's job is to cover, protect (including protecting her from other men, and from her making foolish and potentially dangerous decisions) defend, and nuture. In dating, the girl is seen as having control over herself, that a suitor needs only her permission, but as Christians, the father is charged with being responsible for his daughter, and any suitor must pass the father's tests. The young man knows the father is watching him, candy and flowers don't work, and this changes the tone of the relationship. The order of our Christian walk is that God defers to the will of the godly father when it comes to the daughter-the father's will IS the will of God. Daughters are meant to be their "daddy's girls", Christian daughters are meant to be under the headship and belong to their dad's until the day they are married, and then covered under the headship of their husbands with no intermediate point between dad and husband where the daughter goes off on her own, with no covering or authority over her, doing what she sees fit to do. (There is a way that seems right to a person, but in the end it leads to death). Daughters obey (hear and heed) your fathers, fathers do not exasperate your daughters, enjoy your special relationship!
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