Every child you
give birth to is special, your firstborn is a brand-new experience that
holds more emotions than I can possibly find adjectives for. We mothers have such
influence over our children that will one day grow to be adults. We can use
that influence for good or unfortunately for evil.
We start praying
for our children before they are even born, and those prayers last a lifetime. God
gave Jochebed, Miriam, Naomi, Ruth, Mary and you and I the courage we need to
journey forward in His plans for our kids, even when they come as a surprise.
The early chapters
of the Bible are filled with motherhood stories from Eve to Sarah to Rebekah to
Rachel and Leah, but we rarely see these mothers interacting with their
children. Leah is the only mom whom the Bible mentions as having a daughter.
Exodus is the first book that shows a mother/daughter pair interacting.
Pharaoh commanded
that every male child born into a Hebrew family was to be thrown into the Nile
River. Can you imagine what it was like for
Jochebed not knowing if she would give birth to another girl or to a boy? I
wonder if she talked to Miriam about the fear she carried. I know I talk to my
girls quite often about what’s happening in my world.
When she does give
birth the Bible is clear that Moses was special.
Exodus
2:2 tells us that Jochebed saw that he was a fine child. She was given a divine insight into her
baby boy and it gave her courage. She had the strength to disobey the command
of Pharaoh to take her child’s life, instead she hid her baby for 3 months. It
is a familiar story that she puts Moses in a basket and places him in the Nile
River. It is then his sister Miriam takes a significant risk, she sees a way to
reunite her younger brother with their mother and keep him safe. Jochebed
fought to save her son, Miriam stepped up to protect him and Pharaoh's own daughter
took pity on him and spared his life. All three women played a major role in
Moses' life.
God is always
doing the unexpected. The story didn’t end with a young prince being raised as
a slave but of the slave raised as a young prince. Jochebed’s faith filled her
with assurance that God would protect and prepare her child for big things to
come, and boy did HE!
(Read Exodus for the
full story.)
The point is
Jochebed’s love for her son outweighed her fear of a horrific ruler. We will do
anything to protect our children, even letting them go, for them to walk out
the plans God has for them.
Then there’s Ruth
and her relationship with Naomi who became her second mother. Naomi
moves to a foreign land with her family and suffers devastation when her husband
and both her sons die. Naomi’s situation became dire as the three men that
would keep her safe and secure were now gone. In her desperation and grief, she
decides to move back to her homeland. Although she was grieving, she could see
God’s hand in her life and she decided to leave alone. She lets her daughters-in-law,
Ruth and Orpah know if they had any chance of a prosperous life they should
stay in Moab where they could find new husbands. Naomi obviously loved these women as she
selflessly stopped to think about the life they could still have with family, children,
and the security of a new marriage.
Too often our
society feeds us the poisonous narrative of the hostile mother-in-law, but that
is not the experience of many women. I call Alex, my son’s wife, my daughter-in-love
and genuinely love her as my own. Ruth moves to a country where she will be an immigrant
and stranger because of her desire to remain with Naomi. Naomi was the first person
in this story to talk about the Lord, and that became a consistent theme in Naomi
and Ruth’s relationship. Ruth was consciously leaving everything she knew
behind and clearly choosing to honor and serve the God of Naomi. There was
something about Naomi that caused Ruth to want to follow her and her God.
You don’t have to
give birth to a child to have a daughter, God started adoption from the
beginning. We are all adopted into the family of God.
Now let’s look at a
mother and son relationship that has both a positive and negative side. The positive
as inspiration and encouragement for mothers seeking God’s will for their children,
the negative a clear warning against scheming to help a child “skip ahead.” I
have been guilty of both…..
The Bible provides
beautiful examples of brave, humble, righteous mothers willing to surrender
their own hopes and dreams in favor of what God has planned even when they can’t
see the plan.
Rebekah’s life
started with incredible promise, but she definitely got off track. She was a
bride directly chosen by God for Abraham’s beloved son Isaac. When Rebekah
finally gets pregnant, she doesn’t have an easy time and she goes to God in
prayer asking for His explanation about the struggle. Rebekah learns she will
have 2 babies and they will both represent a separate strong nation.
Honestly, I just
wanted my sons to grow up strong, healthy and be able to provide well for their
families.
Isaac and Rebekah as
parents started using their children as their main emotional connection instead
of each other. This is dangerous for them and something for us to look out for.
We should not allow our children to take the position of our spouse no matter
how much we love them.
You will have to
read the book of Genesis to learn the whole story but the gist of it is Isaac loved
Esau more than Jacob and Rebekah loved Jacob more than Esau. Rebekah came up
with a deceitful plan, to rob her own first-born Esau of his blessing. She puts
together a treacherous scheme to fool her husband into giving the younger son
the birthright guaranteeing a double portion of the inheritance. What drove Rebekah
to such deceitful behavior? God Himself told her that her younger son would be
served by his older brother down the line. Did she doubt God’s word? Did she
think she needed to give God help?
I hesitate to ask
that last question as I know I have “helped” God in the past. I have doubted
promises God has given me regarding my children and have been told by my
Heavenly Father to butt out.
In this story we
see a mother using deception because of her competitive, controlling spirit
that would play out, not for good, in Jacob’s future decisions.
Jacob is not a
victim here; he was a grown man and in on this shameful plan to deceive, not
just some random old man, but his own father.
I will be honest, there are times when I’m
praying to God about my child, and He reminds me they are not children, they
are adults.
Our next mother is
Bathsheba. The quote that comes to mind when I hear her name is “Oh what a
tangled web we’ve weaved.” You will have
to read 2 Samuel for the whole story.
Condensed version,
King David has an affair with a woman named Bathsheba, one of his faithful soldiers’
wives. He then has him killed in battle to cover his sin. Bathsheba gets
pregnant and David brings her into his house, and she becomes his wife,
however, the thing David did displeased the Lord. That is a chilling statement!
Later Nathan the
prophet calls out King David’s sin and tells him the child he had conceived
with Bathsheba would die. Despite all of King David’s prayers the child dies.
The story doesn’t talk at all about Bathsheba as all of this is happening. What
did she know about any of this? Did she know anything about how her husband
died? Whether she did or not, how devastating is this whole story! Her new
husband was a liar and a murderer and her innocent child, who had nothing to do
with any of the decisions made by his father, suffered for it. I can’t imagine
her pain. The grief of her only child wasting away in sickness you can’t stop,
in cries that you can’t comfort.
As a mother you
have experienced this tragedy firsthand, or you may have walked through it with
someone else. Our grief tells God that we cherish His gifts to us, we cherish
them so much that we sometimes can’t imagine our lives without them. Too often
mothers who lose their children, especially before they are born feel they need
to hide their anguish.
2
Samuel 12:24 tells us “Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to
her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him
Solomon.”
This part of her
story is when we see her influence in shaping the nation of Israel. She is the
only one of a handful of women referenced in the lineage of Jesus. Solomon was
not the oldest of David’s sons, but he had favor and when it came to fighting
for him Bathsheba was a lioness. Her skills determined Solomon's place on the throne.
The difference between her plan and Rebekah’s was she was straight with King
David. Her life over the years made her an eloquent, fearless woman who was
aware of what was going on around her and brave enough to advocate for her son
Solomon.
Bathsheba had a
difficult life and her son treated her with respect and honor. He had a throne
brought in for her so she could sit at his right hand, the place of honor
reserved for the king’s chief counselor.
This position of
an honored mother/queen was new. Solomon saw his mother’s devotion for him over
the years and it seems Bathsheba and Solomon’s bond may have elevated “the mothers
of kings.” When we look at the long list of the rulers of Judah in the Bible,
the introduction of each king follows with a new format.
1
Kings 14:21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years
old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the
Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his name. His
mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite.
From that point
on, in every single introduction of a king of Judah, the mother’s name is
mentioned alongside the king’s! The term queen in the record of the kings of
Judah means, not the wife of the king, but the kings’ mother. Such honor was
paid by Solomon to his mom that the tradition of the queen mother was forever
established in the story of Israel.
What a blessing
for us to be known as chief counselors for our children, giving them wise Godly
advice. Sometimes that advice goes against our own plans and desires. I said
something to my daughter today that didn't line up with God’s current plan and
I had to apologize for putting my hopes before God’s direction.
Whatever your
story with your children, my advice to you is, when you’re wrong, always say you’re
sorry and make sure to continually say, I love you. The rest will work out because
God promises:
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are called according to his purpose. 28 And we know that
for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are
called according to his purpose.
Happy Mother’s Day!
*notes taken from The Mothers and Daughters of the Bible Speak by Shannon Bream
