Gio loves his Mom! “Mum,
Mum, Mum,” he chants in his little baby voice, a happy murmur. He keeps his eye on her while she works about
the kitchen. He cries softly but his
wide smile quickly returns when his Mom picks him up and puts him on her
hip. When a new person shows up, he
holds onto her and shyly tucks his face into her neck. The relationship of baby and loving Mom
deeply stirs this Grandfather’s emotions! When Bev and I were parenting, we had
very different but complementary roles. She was the nurturing mother, I was the
encouraging father. When one of our
little ones was hurting, she soothed; I reminded them that they could recover
and move on! My own Dad, while very
loving, would pick me up and dust me off, telling me – “It’s a long way from
your heart, son, you’ll survive. Now dry your tears.
God, Who is most often known as “Father” also says, "I will comfort you there as a child is
comforted by its mother.” (Isaiah 66:13, NLT) Sometimes
I need a mothering God, how about you?
The Lord is an eternal Father Who holds my life secure; the sovereign ruler – true and good! But, sometimes I need to feel
the Presence of His Spirit, the holy Comfort of a nurturing God. We must not miss or ignore the full revelation.
Isaiah teaches us that the Lord is a
nurturing God. "Yet Jerusalem says,
“The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.” “Never! Can a mother
forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for a child she has borne? But
even if that were possible, I would not forget you!" (Isaiah 49:14-15,
NLT) Hosea describes God’s love in
maternal terms, too. "It was I who
taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it
was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of
love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them." (Hosea
11:3-4, NIV)
Jesus looked over the city of Jerusalem, knowing her sin and
coming judgement, and He spoke tenderly of God’s holy desire to love and
comfort her. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you
who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to
gather your children together, as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."
(Matthew 23:37, NIV)
Are you torn by temptation today?
Is sadness present?
Does your heart ache?
Let the Lord love you tenderly, like a mother. To be sure, we err if we go too far and refer
to God as Mother. Some churches,
responding to the whims of culture, expunge the paternal words from prayers and
hymns. There is no need to ignore the
revealed Word in order to know and love God.
To be sure, He reveals Himself primarily
as our Father, as the Lord of Glory. The
Scripture does not allow us to fall into the idolatry of the ancient nature
cults that worshipped the feminine.
There is, however, no wrong in
knowing that God holds us near, that He knows our sorrow and pain, that He
longs for us with a motherly love!
So, as I listen to little Gio love his Mama, I will take a
lesson and let my God love me with a maternal love, too. I hope you will, too.
Here’s the word from the Word.
"My beloved
friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone
who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God." (1
John 4:7, The Message)
"My dear, dear
friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No
one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within
us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love! " (1 John
4:11-12, The Message)
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