Mother God

Mother God

May 15, 2017

Isaiah 66:13 "As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; and you will be comforted over Israel."

Imagining the Lord as a female is not natural. While God does not have a gender, He is likened as a Father. He is called our Father on purpose, to deliberately relate to those in the Bible who only understood a patriarchal society.  For many, the God in the Old Testament could not have been likened to a female in any sense of the word. An all powerful God had to be the epitome of masculinity. The Lord perpetuates this analogy, telling us He is our Heavenly Father. Only a Father could take a child as his own and give him or her the rights of an heir. The analogy of the Lord as a father was so we could understand, at lease those during Biblical times, that the Lord had the authority to give us an inheritance, something a female could not do. But the Lord is not just masculine, He is feminine as well. He has both male and female qualities, as we understand traditional gender roles.

When He created Adam and Eve, He made them both in His image. He could not have made a female in His image if He did not have female qualities. Don't think of the Lord as a woman, but understand He was the one who made a woman, giving her all the attributes that make her essentially a woman. This translates into a mother's normal qualities, too. A mother cannot be a mother unless she is demonstrating the feminine qualities the Lord instilled in her, from His own characteristics. The Lord as our mother is very Scriptural, as He relates to us.

The Bible says the Lord will comfort us like a mother comforts a child. This is a very tender and diminutive thing, far from a traditionally masculine role. But the Bible doesn't stop there. The Bible says the Lord will nurse us, carry us on His hip, hold us on His lap, and even bounce us on His knee like a child.  Again, this is not very masculine, far from the traditional understanding of God the Father. While this mindset is not intended to treat you like a baby, the Bible is making clear the tenderness of the Lord, as likened to the tenderness of a mother caring for her baby. When you consider your own relationship with the Lord is it ever with the tenderness of a mother carrying around her baby, or is it only the authoritarian and disciplinarian roles of a Father? Chances are, when you hear the Lord speak to you, you probably receive it as you would from a stern father figure. But the Lord wants to show you His tenderness, too.

When the Lord said He would comfort us like a mother comforts a baby, it was in direction response to the harshness the children of Israel were experiencing during a time when the Lord had to be stern and discipline them. Many had rebelled and He scattered them across the nations, but those who repented, the Lord was going to comfort.  He was going to comfort them like a mother holds her baby. He was going to comfort and forgive and allow them to rebuild. He was going to keep them as His children and from them continue to birth the nation of Israel, out of whom a Savior was eventually born. The Lord does not always want to be harsh with you; He doesn't ever desire to be harsh with you lest your actions require it. But the harshness of the Lord doesn't last forever. He wants to comfort you, too. He wants to show you the tenderness of a mother's care.

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  Gen 1:26-27, Is 66