[To follow The Ewellogy, please click on Leave a Comment above, fill in your name and email, and check the box: Notify me of new posts by email. If your comment is, “Notify me,” it won’t post publicly. If you don’t start to receive the blog by email right away, please write to me at bob@ewell.com, and I will see that you get on the list.]

Someone asked me the other day if there was a verse for the father as protector of the family. My immediate response was that there aren’t that many specific verses about fathers (e.g., Ephesians 6.4 and Colossians 3.21 come to mind), and they don’t say anything about protection.

But, of course, God is our example of a father, so we can think about God’s role as protector.

Psalm 20.1: “May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!”

Psalm 59.1: “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me.” 

If we expand from God as our Father to God as our Shepherd, it’s even better!

Psalm 23.4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…”

John 10.11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

There’s an excellent ministry for fathers called Dad the Family Shepherd. The name says it all.

So to answer my friend, yes, as a dad, you are responsible, among other things, to protect your family. Your model is your heavenly Father, and as you spend time with him, you can become more and more like him in your fathering.