Happy Mother's Day from Create Church!

We have probably all heard God referred to as “our heavenly Father” countless times, and this week, in honor of Mother's Day, we looked into some of God's more motherly attributes.

We first looked into the very beginning:

Genesis 1:1-2. “When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them.”

So both male and female (mothers and fathers) bear the image of God and can reflect Him through a Christ-centered life.

We then looked at the various times in the Bible where God is described using motherly terminology, particularly in the book of Isaiah:

  1. God's forceful breath of divine power is compared to the breath of a woman in labor. (Isa. 42:14)
  2. When his followers cry out claiming to be forgotten, he says “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?” (Isa. 49:14-15)
  3. He also says he will comfort his people “like a mother comforts her child.” 
  4. God is also often described in Isaiah as having birthed Israel and carried them like a newborn.
  5. In many other parts of the Bible God is likened to a mother bird, feeding and providing for his children while providing shelter and protection under his wing. (Ps. 17:8, 36:7, 57:1, 91:4; Dt. 32:11-12)  Jesus himself said “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...” (Mt. 23:37) 
  6. And then, in the book of Hosea, God is compared to a mother bear; ready to fight to protect the children.
  7. We also looked at how the Holy Spirit in particular is associated with woman's functions such as the birthing process (Jn. 3:5; cf. Jn. 1:13, 1 Jn. 4:7b, 5:1, 4, 18).

So, what can we take away from all this? 

  1. God seems to be comfortable and confident in being considered motherly. So can we!
  2. Since God is our heavenly father with a number of mother-like characteristics, we do not have to be more like the opposite sex in order to be more like Jesus. We can reflect the heart of God as we embrace our motherly qualities, just like He does.

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