Isaiah 49:14-16 Seeing God Through the Life of Mothers

Mother: “Every time you’re naughty I get another gray hair.”
Son: “Gee, Mom, you must have been a terror when you were young … just look at Grandma.”

Today, we honor mothers. Today we will spend time sharing how mothers are a picture of the way we see God. We will discover that every mother has the privilege to point their children to God’s love. We will see God through the life of mothers as one looks through a window. These three windows will paint us a picture of how God loves us. So let’s start with the first window.

SEEING GOD THROUGH THE WINDOW OF CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE

“Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me; The Lord has forgotten me!”” (Isaiah 49:14, HCSB)

Sometimes our childhood experience is great and sometimes is a difficult one. Our childhood experience begins with a mother. We come into the world through the womb of a woman who cares about the baby born to her. These early days begin the journey into childhood. Sometimes, this is a long childhood guided by the loving care of a mother. Yet, some parts of the childhood may have been disrupted.

Because some mothers in this world aren’t good mothers at all, are they? You hear of some mothers abandoning their own babies at birth, others who habitually ignore their children, still others who abuse their sons and daughters in various ways. But even the good mothers, even those mothers who are Christians don’t always display the proper kind of love for the little ones they have brought into this world. Sometimes your mothers can be moody and cranky and unpleasant. Sometimes they can be mean and selfish and unforgiving. Even the best mother isn’t the perfect mother.

You may have felt abandoned or forgotten. You may have felt like your childhood was not what you wanted. God uses that experience. God uses these experiences in the life of our moms to teach us about God. Your mother does not have to be perfect to be a good example.

How does an imperfect childhood allow me to see God through the life of my mother? The view from this window is pretty limited. The view is dark, dirty, and smudgy.  However, as you get older, you vision gets clearer. You know, hindsight is 20/20. As we see in the next verse, we learn that just because I thought that my childhood was tough, I learn later in life that my mother did a better job than I thought. It takes maturity to see through the second window.

““Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you.” (Isaiah 49:15, HCSB)

SEEING GOD THROUGH THE WINDOW OF COMPASSION

The second image is that of compassion. Your mother may love you more than anyone else on this earth ever will. However, the Lord’s love for you is more than your mother’s love. It’s stronger than your mother’s love. It’s more dependable than your mother’s love.

MY MOTHER NEVER FORGOT

It says here that some mothers will forget, but that God will never forget. Well, apparently, the prophet Isaiah never met my mother. She never forgot. She always remembered. I was amazed at how my mother never forgot a bill. She never forgot an appointment. She never forgot to remind me of my responsibilities (“Clean your room young man,” “It’s your turn to wash the dishes.” “Quit blaming your sister.”). I did hear once or twice in my childhood the famous phrase: “I brought you into this world…I can take you back out.”

She never forgot a progress report or report card. That was back in the days when you had to wait to find out. These days, our kids’ grades are posted before they get home. They send us a text message so that we will remember.

“Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.” (Isaiah 49:16, HCSB)

SEEING GOD THROUGH THE WINDOW OF COLLECTIVE MEMORY

The third image is that of a memory. A popular gift for mothers and grandmothers on Mother’s Day is a silver bracelet or a necklace that has a pendant representing each child or grandchild hanging off of the chain. Many times these pieces of jewelry are engraved with the names of the children. An engraving gives that gift a more personal touch: those names are always in front of the person wearing it so that they can see them and think about them all the time. And an engraving certainly provides a feeling of permanence as well. Once an engraving is etched on it’s hard to get it off.

God remembers you. He has you engraved in His hands. Your name has been engraved on the palms of your Savior’s hands with an iron stake. A nail that produced a lot of blood and a whole bunch of pain and some pretty severe holes.

And those holes are still there. And every time he looks at them he thinks of you – all of the sacrifices he made to save you, all of the torture he went through to forgive you, all of the hatred he had to endure to secure you. Will he forget you now? Will he forget you now after going through all of that? Will he forget you tomorrow? Will he forget you next month? Will he forget you next year? Will he forget you when you hurt, when you cry, when you lose, when you die? As long as that “engraving” remains on his hands, so you will remain in his heart. And he will love you. He will love you with a love that is like no other: more than the love of a mother, more than the love of a father, more than the love of a spouse, a friend, or a child; more than the love you have for yourself. His love is deeper and wider, and broader than any other love.

STEPPING THROUGH THE WINDOW: AN APPLICATION

Now there are a couple of other things that we can say about this maternal (or motherly) image of God that is important to all of the other things that mother’s day sermons usually focus on – the stuff like the dignity of marriage, the necessity of disciplining our children, and the duty that children have to obey their parents.

The way to reflect on the implications of this picture of God is to recognize that motherhood is God’s invention. His purpose was to provide us a living example to understand him and know him better. Because motherhood pictures for us the compassion and care of God it is the foundation and the model for earthly mothers.

In this way we step through the window.

Here, then, is the dignity of motherhood. When you who are mothers and grandmothers reflect on your role remember that you reflect the image of God when you give birth to and nurture your children. The rest of us should honor our mothers and motherhood in general for the same reasons. This is particularly relevant in our culture where motherhood tends to be denigrated. It is an unfortunate drawback of modern

feminism that the stay-at-home mother is regarded as a second-class citizen or a sellout.

There is also a need for mothers to discipline and care for children. Because motherhood reflects the divine image it is important that the picture of motherhood which we present to our children be a reflection of those perfected maternal attributes in God. Our children need godly mothers because they need to see and understand God. They need to be disciplined and discipled to obey their mothers because it is in this that they learn to accept the discipline of God and learn to obey him.

Finally, we as children need to honor our mothers because in this we honor and obey God. It is significance that in his exhortation to children that they obey their parents “in the Lord.”

“Children, obey your parents as you would the Lord, because this is right.” (Ephesians 6:1, HCSB)

Photo by chelsea ferenando on Unsplash