With the privilege of being created in God’s image comes an immense responsibility. God created us in His own image so that we could reflect aspects of His character to the rest of creation. Yet God did not create just one kind of human in His image. God created a male and a female, both of which reflect different aspects of Who God is. God created Eve to help Adam complete that mission of representing God on the earth. Genesis 3:20 tells us that Eve is “the mother all living.” She was the first mother—the reason that the rest of us are here today. From the creation account of the very first man and woman, we can see that God intended motherhood to be an integral part of His grand, sweeping story from the very beginning. Yes, God created Eve to be a woman and a wife, but God also specifically designed Eve to be a mother. Why? Because motherhood is a special way in which God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. Mothers, when they are following God’s plan for motherhood, represent God in three specific ways.
One way that mothers can represent God is through bringing forth and nurturing life. Eve’s name literally means “life” or “living.” In the beginning, God breathed into man (and, by extension, woman) the breath of life. Then, God designed women with the unique ability of creating, carrying, and bringing forth new life. This ability is a picture of God as Creator, the original life-giver. It also pictures God’s desire to give new life to those who are “dead in their trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, God breathes the breath of spiritual life into us. Ephesians 2:5 says it this way, “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.” When God brings forth this new spiritual life in us, He recreates us in the image of His Son. Ephesians 4:24 describes this recreation as “the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Bringing forth new life is an essential aspect of God’s nature and motherhood gives us an illustration of that.
Not only do mothers represent God when they bring forth new life, but also when they nurture that new life. A mother has a special, incomprehensible bond with the little life she has carried for nine months. That natural bond is strengthened through nurturing. Nurturing means bringing up, caring for, or cultivating. Just as a gardener nurtures a plant, a mother nurtures the life of her child through loving and gentle care.
God emphasizes this natural and incomprehensible bond between mothers and their children in Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Here, God uses the familiar bond between a mother and her child to illustrate His special bond with His children. In this case, His special bond is with His children, Israel. As believers in Jesus Christ, we have been grafted into the family of Abraham (Romans 11:23) and share a special bond with God as His children. Yet God’s bond with His children is even stronger than a mother’s natural bond with her child. God used that illustration of mother in Isaiah 49 to give us just an inkling of an idea about His bond with us. If it is difficult to comprehend a mother without that natural affection for her child, it is that much more difficult to comprehend God’s love for us. Even if that natural bond with our earthly mother were dissolved, God will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He holds us in the palm of His hand, where nothing and no one can take us away from Him (John 10:28).
Why would God design mothers with this ability to bring forth life and the nature to nurture it? In so doing, God is giving us a glimpse of Himself. Like a mother who has that special bond with her child, God cannot forget the children that He has given life to in the first place. He will not neglect the children that He has given spiritual life, whom He has recreated in the image of God the Son. A mother’s nurturing nature reminds us of the God who gave us life in the first place and nurtures us as we learn, develop and grow in the Christian life.
Another way mothers can represent God is through providing refuge. Mothers are a refuge for their children as well as their husbands. My mother has certainly been a refuge for me often. When I fell and hurt myself as a child, who did I run to for help and comfort? As I’ve grown older, when I have failed, when I have had a rough day, when I have endured a season of struggle, I have found refuge in the same place. Mom has always been there to offer comfort and advice. I’m sure many of you can say the same of your mothers.
Much like a mother who is there to provide comfort to her child, come what may, God is a refuge for His children. In Isaiah 66:13, God describes Himself thusly, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you: and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.” In the New Testament, God the Son describes Himself as a mother in Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” In this mother-like plea, Jesus presents Himself as a refuge from sin and suffering. He is not the one who stands afar off; we are the ones who wander and refuse to trust Him. Israel had failed, and yet Jesus was waiting, ready to provide refuge for them just like a mother would. As the psalmist put it, “Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.” (Psalm 62:8) In Psalm 71:3, this refuge in God is presented as an unconditional one “whereunto I may continually resort.” Perhaps like you, I can remember many times that I poured out my heart to my mother. On my worst days, my mother has still been there to offer comfort. While not all earthly mothers exemplify this, and surely none will do so perfectly, God uses mothers to illustrate His providing refuge for us.
Yet a third way that mothers can represent God is through teaching. Mothers begin teaching their children from the very moment their children are born. Just observe nature! This spring, three baby horses have been born on the Ranch. By the time I met these babies, they were already frolicking in the field, nibbling on grass, and whinnying at their mothers. How did they know to do all of this? They learned from their mamma horses. Human mothers are that way, too. They just can’t help but teach their children from the very beginning.
God admonishes children to take heed to the teaching that mothers offer. Proverbs 1:8 says, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.” This command is found in Proverbs 6:20 also. Proverbs 31 is a mother’s advice to her son. The “virtuous woman,” a mother, in Proverbs 31:26, “openeth her mouth with wisdom: and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” A mother teaches her children about the most basic, the most complex, and the most sensitive aspects of life as only a mother could—with kindness, compassion, and consistency.
In the New Testament, God emphasized the importance and influence of a mother’s teaching in 2 Timothy 1:5, “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded in thee also.” Paul had confidence in Timothy’s character because of his mother and grandmother. From what we are told in Scripture, Timothy’s faith is owed primarily to the teaching of his mother. For most of a child’s formative years, the most consistent voice he will hear is his mother’s. The mother’s kind, compassionate, and consistent teaching has enormous influence over the worldview, beliefs, and values the child will apply to life.
The kind, compassionate, consistent teaching of a mother illustrates the way that God teaches us. In Psalm 25, the psalmist looks to God for guidance. Psalm 25:4-5 says, “Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Like a child naturally looks to his mother for guidance, so we should look to the God of our salvation for guidance. The psalmist continues in verse 8-9, “Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.” The Lord is our Master Teacher, the ultimate Guide for how life should work and how we should live it. Just as we would be wise to heed our mother’s teaching, we would be infinitely wiser to heed the teaching God provides through His Word and Holy Spirit. As the psalmist said in Psalm 143:8 and 10, “Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning: for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. . . Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God; thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” While we give the Lord more reason to be exhausted with us than a toddler gives his mother, God never fails to provide kind, compassionate, and consistent teaching to those Who trust Him.
While all of us may not be mothers, we can be mothers in the sense that we nurture life, provide refuge, and teach others. Those others may not be our biological children, but they may be our nieces and nephews, our students, our friends, or other young people that we can mentor. As women, God created us with a nature to nurture life, provide refuge, and teach others.
This Mother’s Day, if you are a mother, recognize the immense privilege that you have to represent God to your children! When you embrace the biblical role of motherhood, you are helping your children become acquainted with Who God is. That part of you that nurtures your child, that provides refuge for your family, that seeks to teach—that is an aspect of Who God is to us as His children. How wonderful that, in His wisdom, God chose to give us mothers to reveal just a part of Himself to us!