Seeing God in Godly Mothers
By Chap Bettis

Did you ever wonder why God made mothers? An old Jewish proverb says “God could not be everywhere so he made mothers.” Is that true? Can you see a bit of God in a good mother? So often we are told that our children will pick up much of their view of God from their fathers. But is there anything to be learned about God from watching a good mother in action?

Some of you did not have good mothers and have had to learn godly motherhood on your own. But you still know what a godly mother looks like. She is the woman, who when there are six member of the family at the table and only five pieces of pie, suddenly declares she never cared for pie.

Whether or not you had a godly mother, there is much to learn about God from watching a mother and from being a mother. Let’s look together at another passage which describes God using both male and female imagery. Moses is the writer and is at the end of his life. He has brought Israel out of Egypt and into the desert to covenant with God. He has wandered with them for 40 years and now they are about to go into the Promised Land. He knows that he is about to die as discipline for earlier anger. The people will be facing battles with a new leader, Joshua. Before they go in, he takes time to repeat the law to them. Hence the name – Deuteronomy – Second Law. Deuteronomy 31:19 gives the reason for this Song of Moses. God commands Moses to write a song that the nation will learn as a witness against them when they rebel against him. Can you imagine? In this national song, God will predict and bear witness against their rebellion years from now.

But we are going to concentrate on the part which talks of God’s care. From Deuteronomy 32:7-14, we can learn that God cares for his children the way a mother cares for her children.

God Plans for His Children

First, God plans for his children. Deuteronomy 32:8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. This a reference back to the time of Noah when God gave different lands to different sons of Noah . Even at that time when Canaan temporarily took the land, God had already decided to give it to Abraham and his descendants. (Genesis 15:18) He had already set up the boundaries and given the land to his people.

Why? Deuteronomy 32:9 For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. The Lord’s portion is not a piece of land. God isn’t interested in land. God’s heart is for his people. Over and over again, God’s word tells us that his portion is his people. Exodus 19:5-6 If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' Ps 135:4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His own possession. Isaiah 43:21 The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise. Before the nation Israel was even born, God desired him. God was planning for him.

This same truth is carried over into the NT. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; Because you are his portion he has planned all things for the benefit of you, his children. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed head over everything for the church. Ephesians 1:22 I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14) If you are a follower of Jesus, God has been planning for your time in the world.

Anyone who is a parent knows all the stuff that we seem to need to have a baby these days. Now you’ve got to have a crib, a changing table, a swing, a johnny jump up, a car seat, etc. Remember what you needed when you were single? A toothbrush. Then you got married and had a baby. All this stuff. But somehow it does not seem to bothersome at the time. Why? Because the parents delight in baby equipment? No, it is not bothersome because the parents delight in the baby. God is like a parent that has been planning for the big day. He’s already made the room ready by painting it and buying all the equipment. Why? Because he delights in baby equipment? No, because he delights in you. You are his portion.

What does a mother want on mother’s day? Her children! The plants, flowers, perfume don’t matter as much as the fragrance of her children. In fact that is how Mother’s Day started. A woman named Anna Jarvis is considered the real founder of Mother's Day in America. She was born in 1864 and lived in Grafton, West Virginia during her youth. The Civil War had ended when Anna was only one year old, yet there was still much hatred among families in West Virginia. Families were divided by choosing different sides during the Civil War. Anna heard her mother say many times that she hoped "sometime, somewhere, someone will found a Mother's Day." She was convinced that if the family honored their mother on a special day, the fighting and hatred would end. When Anna's mother died, Anna made a promise to herself that she would be the "someone" to make her mother's wish come true.

What does a mother want? Her children. And God is like that with us. He delights in his children. So the next time you mothers find yourself just delighting in your children, let this thought come to your mind, God delights in me like this.

God Seeks for His Children

Not only does God plan for his children, but God seeks for his children. Deuteronomy 32:10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. To find someone you have to go searching. God went searching for Israel when they were in trouble in Egypt. God went searching for us when we were in trouble.

God did not need us. There was no deficiency in the Godhead that caused in him a longing for mankind. In fact, the creation of mankind would cause him pain. Yet out of his overflowing grace, he created man for his own glory. In spite of the pain, he sought after you and me and he continues to seek after us.

What is it that causes a woman to desire to have children? Someone once said, “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." Why do that? Yet a woman does. She has more love so she seeks after a child and continues to seek after her children. What kind of Mom would not continue to seek her children when they are lost? After going shopping, she looks in the back seat of her van “How many children do I have? Kara, Chapman, Rebekah. Where’s Nate. Oh well at least I got 3 of the 4. Let’s go.” You go seeking after that lost child.

God so loved you and so sought you that he gave his one and only son in return for you. Does God care for you? He has planned for you. He has sought you. He left the 99 other sheep to come after you. Now that he’s got you, what does God do?

God Cares for His Children

God not only plans for his children and seeks his children, but God also cares for his children. Deuteronomy 32:10-11 He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. Look at all these words God piles up to describe how he took care of Israel in the desert and how he takes care of us. He shields (or encircles) us with love and care. He cares for us. He guards us as the apple of his eye. Your pupil is the apple of your eye. It is one of the most important parts of your body, one that you protect completely. Yet God says he guards you just like the apple of his own eye. In fact elsewhere he says, “He who touches you, touches the apple of my eye.” Zechariah 2:8

God took care of the Israelites and he will take care of you. In the desert, He fed them for forty years with manna, quail and water from the rock. He led them with a pillar of cloud in the day and a pillar of fire at night. He kept their clothes from wearing out. He instructed them with the Law. He listened to their grumbling and complaining. He endured their squabbles. He took them from slaves and made them into a nation. Moms, your daily chores can give you a insight into this aspect of God faithfulness?

But God doesn’t stop there. In verse 11, he compares his love to that of a mother eagle. He loves us enough to stir up the nest. When a mother eagle builds her nest she starts with thorns, broken branches, sharp rocks, and a number of other items that seem entirely unsuitable for the project. But then she lines the nest with a thick padding of wool, feathers, and fur from animals she has killed, making it soft and comfortable for the eggs. By the time the growing birds reach flying age, the comfort of the nest and the luxury of free meals make them quite reluctant to leave. That's when the mother eagle begins "stirring up the nest." With her strong talons she begins pulling up the thick carpet of fur and feathers, bringing the sharp rocks and branches to the surface. As more of the bedding gets plucked up, the nest becomes more uncomfortable for the young eagles. Eventually, this and other urgings prompt the growing eagles to leave their once-comfortable abode and move on to more mature behavior. (Today in the Word, June 11, 1989) The same is true for us. We are made to fly like the eagles. But sometimes God has to stir up the nest through trials, difficulties and unsettling times. He needs to make the nest uncomfortable so that we will fly.

He loves us enough to hover over us. Even as he stirs up the nest, God hasn’t left us. He is still hovering over us until we fly. He is still near to us to bring us encouragement. He is still encircling us with his care and covering us with his wings to keep out the sun and rain. It is in those times when the circumstances of our nest are being stirred that we feel he cannot also be hovering, but he is. Close. Near.

He loves us enough to catch us and carry us on eagles wings. Being carried on eagles wings is beautiful analogy of being carried by the most powerful things in the sky. Eagles wings are up to eight feet across. They were the largest thing in the sky when Moses wrote this. Because of those huge wings they can carry their own body weight. They can carry a young lamb into the sky.

So being carried by eagles wings is soaring while being carried with the biggest thing there is. God uses this same analogy in Exodus 19:4 when he says, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Isaiah 40:31Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles,

What God seems to be saying is that in his love and care, he keep our ultimate good in mind. The young eagle is created to soar not to stay in the nest. Yet sometimes we, like that eaglet, need a little motivation. We need the stirring of the nest through trials and difficulties. But in that stirring God is still there hovering. And after that attempt to fly becomes overwhelming and we are exhausted in mid-air, then he will catch us and carry us on the most powerful wings in the sky – his.

God cares for you like a mother eagle. He encircles you with his care. You are the apple of his eye. Even stirring the nest is part of his care. Has God been stirring your nest lately? Don’t fear. He is still hovering nearby, willing to carry you on his wings when you falter. When you see a godly mother caring for and guarding her children, think of God’s care for you.

God Prospers His Children

Not only does God plan for his children, seek his children and care for his children, but God also prospers his children. Deuteronomy32:13-15 He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock, and with oil from the flinty crag, 14 with curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats, with choice rams of Bashan and the finest kernels of wheat. You drank the foaming blood of the grape. This whole passage is talking about the promised land. The first phrase talks about military victory they would have. The one who controls the heights controls the land. The rest is talking about the material blessing of the land. There were literally beehives in the crevices of rocks and olive trees in the rocky soil. God delighted in prospering his children.

When Moses composed this, they had not taken the land yet but remember the purpose of this song. It was to sing in the future. So the language is in the past tense. Their victory and prosperity is so certain that Moses composes this song for the future and here he uses the past tense Paul does the same thing. Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for good. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn of many brothers. And those he predestined he also called; those he called, he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified. Your eternal prosperity is such an accomplished fact that Paul speaks of it in the past tense. God delights in prospering his children just as a good mother delights in preparing her children to live a victorious and prosperous life. God will bring you into a prosperous land, flowing with milk and honey.

Conclusion

God has already picked out your place in heaven. You are his portion. He delights in you. He seeks you. He encircles you with his care. Yes, sometimes he stirs the nest, but he is still there hovering, ready to lift you up on his wings if you falter. And the only reason he’s stirring the nest is so that you can soar with his Son. And you will soar and soar and soar until the final thermal updraft takes you home.

If you have any questions, comments or observations, please call Chapman Bettis at 401 727-2367 or John Riley at 401-453-5550 or email at johnr@cornerstoneri.com