Christians freely confess that God created all things. Sometimes, however, our minds think about material things when we reference God as Creator. Yet the Bible says, “All things were created by Him,” referring to Jesus as God’s creative power. That includes the family pattern that all living things have a mother and a father. This family pattern goes beyond the human species to species of every kind. Family is clearly a pattern created by God.
While we may not be able to explain all the reasons God created family, it is clear that He desires humanity to learn what He is like as people grow up in healthy Christian families and observe such families at work.
Of course, the Bible regularly refers to God as Father. Even the biblical pronouns referencing God are always in the male gender. That is why most Christians today continue to use the masculine to reference God.
But God is not male or female. The Old Testament is clear in its teaching that God is not a man (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Hos. 11:9). These references are understood as God not being a human being — neither male nor female. Jesus made the same point to the Samaritan woman in John 4:24 when He declared, “God is spirit and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
God is the perfect fulfillment of both genders for both male and female are created in His image (Gen. 1:27).
In both the Old and New testaments, one reads numerous references to God in the role of a mother. Each usage is an analogy. Most of the time, the analogy is to a human mother. Sometimes it is to another species, a mother eagle for example.
Understanding the roles of mothers in godly families can help us understand more about God.
One analogy is to the birthing process. Deuteronomy 32:18 acknowledges that God gave birth to Israel. The passage refers to the “Rock” as the Father and God giving birth. The verse teaches Israel existed because of God’s initiative just as salvation is available today because God took the initiative.
The process of birthing a “people of God” was not an easy task. Isaiah 42:14 pictures God as a woman in labor. For a time, the woman is quiet. The verse describes God as “being quiet” and “holding myself back.” But in labor, she fights for the birth of her child. God said, “Now like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.”
The passage concludes with God saying, “These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them” (v. 16).
A mother may struggle to bring life into the world, but the struggle is not for her benefit. All of the effort, all of the pain is to give her child the opportunity for life. Providing that opportunity is worth all the suffering a mother must endure. Even so, God endures the pain of rejection and rebellion in order to bring humanity the opportunity to become His children.
All of her life, a mother will feel differently toward her own child than toward any other. That analogy is expressed in Isaiah 49:15, where God asked, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?”
Then He answers that rhetorical question, declaring, “I will not forget you.” God knows those who have become His children through faith in Jesus just as a mother knows her child.
Every new mother knows the demands of feeding a newborn. It can seem unending and all-consuming. That metaphor is used by the prophet Hosea to illustrate God’s love for Israel. God said, “I bent down to feed you.” The verse also talks about the love and kindness God poured out on Israel since its birth just as a godly mother surrounds her baby with warmth and affection.
In the closing verses of Isaiah, God said, “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you” (Isa. 66:13). One can almost see a mother holding a crying child across her shoulder as she soothes whatever hurt it is that has upset him or her. That is what God does for His children. He holds us close. He comforts us, just as our mothers did.
Think about these lessons. God takes the initiative to make salvation possible just like a woman giving birth. God fights for us just like a woman in labor fights for her child to be born. God provides for our needs just like a mother nursing her baby. God knows us and never abandons us because we are His children. God cares for us like a mother comforting her child. All of these experiences cause us to trust God and look to Him for strength and guidance.
Again there is an analogy that illustrates the point. In Psalm 123:2–3, the Psalmist wrote, “As the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God till He shows us His mercy.”
Just as the servant girl was dependent on the mistress for her welfare, so are Christians dependent on God. And just as the mistress of the house could be trusted to provide for the servant, so God can be trusted to provide for us. That is why we look to Him “till He shows us His mercy.” It will happen.
The apostle Paul understood the teaching power of these family analogies. That is why he wrote to the Galatians that “I am again in childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19).
The analogies are powerful and beautiful. They teach lessons about God drawn from the experiences of godly women living in families.
When we understand them, they teach us more about God. It is only appropriate that on Mother’s Day, we stop and say thank you to the women who have taught us such valuable lessons.
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