“A Boy Named Sue” was created by Shel Silverstein and popularized by Johnny Cash. If you’ve heard classic country music at all, you probably know it. The song hit #1 on the Billboard Country charts in 1969, and it was Cash’s only top 10 single on the Billboard Top 100.  The song tells the tale of a young man’s quest for revenge on his absent father. The father’s only contribution to his entire life was naming him Sue, a girl’s name. The name resulted in regular giggles and bullying at young Sue’s expense. The moral (if you can call it that) is found near the end where Sue’s father reveals that all of the suffering Sue endured was by design:

And he said: “Son, this world is rough
And if a man’s gonna make it, he’s gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn’t be there to help ya along.
So I give ya that name and I said goodbye
I knew you’d have to get tough or die
And it’s the name that helped to make you strong.”

There is an element of truth in that. As much as we may try to pursue comfort for our children, the book of Hebrews teaches that the Father disciplines those he loves (Hebrews 12:6), and this discipline certainly does have a purpose: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). Like Sue’s name, the Father’s discipline does toughen us up.

In spite of this similarity, there are other obvious ways that Sue’s dirty, mangy dad is nothing like the Heavenly Father. 
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