The Mother-Heart of God

                                      The Mother-heart of God

    Does God have a mother-heart?  Have you ever thought about that?  In this day of radical thinking, when even the question, “Is God a woman?” arises, how can God, our Heavenly Father, truly understand the problems we have as women?

    The Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are…(Hebrews 4.15), yet as a wife and mother, I have often wondered how this could be when Jesus came to earth as a man and not as a woman.  The answer, I believe, is in the fact that when God created our first parents, He created them in his image and we need to understand what He meant by ‘His image’.

    In Genesis we read:
    “Then God said ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…’
    “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1.26a, 27).

    Alongside the plurality of the Godhead is the masculine/feminine concept of his nature.  Science has revealed that the male of the species has feminine attributes and likewise the female has masculine traits and it is all part of being created in the likeness of God.  In spite of some of the contemporary views floating about today, I do not believe that God is a woman, but I do believe that just as woman is the feminine form of the race known as mankind so I believe that God in His totality, embraces the female nature as well as the male.  He is the source of our existence and I believe this aspect of God can be expressed in what we can call the ‘mother-heart’ of God.

    Much has been written about the ‘father-heart’ of God, our creator, but let us consider for a while, this feminine aspect.  As we look into His word, we find in both testaments, allusions to this important part of God’s nature and we can learn from them.

    When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, that intellectual ruler, who came to him by night He declared:
    “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again…no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to spirit”(John 3.3,5-6).

    Of all life’s experiences, birth is essentially the act of a woman.  In spite of all mankind’s advancements in the area of technology, when we can almost select the desired gender of our children and determine just when we want them to arrive, I have never yet heard of a man who has given birth to a baby (except perhaps Arnold Schwartznegger in the world of make believe).  Men were not created for that function. A woman’s body, on the other hand, is so designed to nurture the implanted seed from the moment of conception to the moment of birth.

    In the spiritual sense, there is also a moment when the seed of God’s word is implanted in a person’s life and spiritual conception takes place.  We may not know just exactly when or how it happens and the gestation period may vary from person to person and my take months or even years, but in God’s perfect timing, another moment arrives and the miracle of spiritual birth takes place.  The person is born, not of the flesh but of the Spirit and another soul becomes a part of the family of God.

    As a little boy, my father had been taught the Scriptures.  Then, as the years passed, war and circumstances made him bitter and hostile towards God but the seed that had been planted all those years before was still there, lying dormant until the time when the rain of God’s Spirit fell upon it.  It began to grow slowly in his life and he began to mellow. Gradually changes took place and one evening, when he was in his early seventies, Dad prayed the sinner’s prayer and was born into God’s family.

    We never know when the seed is planted but what a challenge and a responsibility we have to share the Word of God with others, so that in God’s good time, it will develop and produce fruit.  This is especially so with our children and grandchildren whose hearts are so open to receive it.



    Birth, however, is just the beginning. The little babe we hold in our arms, so helpless and dependant must be fed and nurtured if it is to grow and develop as it is intended.  Once again, God in his wisdom has fashioned woman for this task and in those early weeks of suckling and nursing her infant, the mother and child are bonded together in a way that is incomparable to any other relationship.  Peter expressed something of this closeness when he said, “Like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…”(1Peter.2.2).

    It is necessary in those early days of Christian growth, to draw near to God and enjoy that same bonding process that exists between a mother and her child.  Just as a hungry child is a healthy child, so a hungry soul is a healthy soul and the hungry cry is a healthy cry.  Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness…” (Matthew 5.6).  Then, as the child becomes stronger, its needs change and the milk is replaced with more solid food, enabling it to grow and develop just as God planned. 



    In the book of Hosea we see a picture of God in his relationship with the developing nation of Israel and what a beautiful picture it is.  In Chapter 11.3 we read, “It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking by the arms…”  This is just a brief glimpse of the nature of God, but again, we are reminded of the role a mother plays in the life of her infant.  What mother has not held her little one and dangled its feet on the floor, coaxing it to take that one first step then another?  What mother has not held out her hands in encouragement and watched as the child took those first few faltering steps.  Fathers also share this wonderful experience but it is usually the mother who notices those early signs yet how how tragic when those signs are lacking. 

    I once watched a ten month old baby girl lie on her back for two hours.  She was awake and she ‘goo-ed’ and ‘gah-ed’ and her little face was alight with smiles but not once did she try to roll over or pull herself up.  She barely moved.  Something was wrong.  I never learned what the problem was but I never forgot the tragedy of seeing that little one lying there.

    Paul understood this tragedy when he wrote to the church in Corinth.  He said,
“Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly – mere infants in Christ.  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it” (1 Corinthians 3.1).

    In this passage, I believe Paul was expressing something of the heart of God.  these Christian people were still babes in Christ. They were still living on the milk of God’s word when they should have been living on the meat of spiritual maturity.  Consequently, they were weak and vulnerable and they were not developing as God intended.  The word of God must become the source of our daily sustenance.  Jesus taught his disciples to pray “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6.11) and in the face of his own temptations he said to Satan, “Man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4.4).  We need God’s word to grow strong and develop in our spiritual lives.



    Another cameo of the mother-heart of God is found in the book of Isaiah.  In Chapter 66.7-12 we have a picture of the future Jerusalem.  It is a picture of painless childbirth (vv.7-9) when the nation of Israel is brought into being, according to God’s matchless purpose.  Then the picture changes and we see the nursing mother with her child, suckling it, carrying it, ‘dandling it on her knees’ (vv.10-12) and it seems as God speaks, the love that He has for his people is so overflowing that he says, “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you…” (v.13)

    God yearns for his people and as his children, how often do we ourselves long for the comfort that only He can give – the comfort of forgiveness, of understanding, of reassurance, of simply knowing that He is there and that He cares.



    The mother-heart of God is also expressed in this precious picture.  Again, through his servant Isaiah, God says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?  Though she may forget, I will never forget you!  I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” (vv.15-16).

    Here, God contrasts himself with a mother who, unlikely as it seems, might forget the child she has borne and suckled.  His love is such that he will never forget.  Just as we carry pictures of our loved ones in our wallet and treasure the memories we have of them, so God has engraved us on the palms of his hand as a constant reminder that we are precious to him; so precious that he sent his Son to take our place on the cross and bear the punishment for our sins.  It is in Jesus, I believe, that we see the greatest expression of the mother-heart of God.



    One day, as He taught in the temple, Jesus’ heart was stirred by the hardness of the people and he cried,
    “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you were not willing…” (Matthew 23.37)

    When I was a child, one Easter Sunday, I heard the story of the little brown hen who died in an old barn fire.  When the farmer kicked aside the incinerated carcase, a little brood of chickens ran free.  The little hen had given her life for her young.  That morning for the first time, I understood something of the Gospel message and in my childish way, I gave my heart to the one who gave His life for me. 

    Mother love is that kind of love.  It is sacrificial and sacrificial love is the greatest demonstration of the love of God.  It is the love expressed in his Son Jesus.

    Also, in these words from Matthew, Jesus expresses the yearning heart of God.  As I read them I was reminded of a time when I was praying for someone very dear to me.  She was young and wilful and determined to follow a course that would only lead to heartache.  We had talked together several times but nothing would persuade her otherwise.  As I prayed for her, the Lord showed me a mother hen with her brood under her wings and running off into the distance was a little chicken.  God, I believe, was showing me something about my friend.  The mother hen was not able to leave her other chicks.  She had to keep them close and protect them.  But she would call and wait and till the runaway returned.  Gladly, some years later my runaway friend did return but not without the scars of her foolish behaviour.

    God is so like the mother hen.  His heart yearns for the return of his wayward children.  How comforting it is to know that God understands the pain and heartache, the helplessness we feel when our children go astray.  We need to be encouraged for, like the mother hen, God waits and calls for his dear one’s return.

    Sometimes it takes a long time. My father came back to the Lord after more than fifty years of wandering in response to the faithful praying of his mother, his wife and his family and friends.  It is not God’s will that his people be lost.  The Bible tells us “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2Peter 3.9).  We must pray and wait for their return.

    Finally, as we consider the mother-heart of God and the love he has for us, we can truly understand that it is a protective heart; that just as the hen could not leave its young, God will not forsake those who desire to be near him.  The relationship that God longs to have with his children is one in which we can enjoy the closeness and comfort of his presence and the security that comes through placing our trust in him.

    It is in this kind of relationship that we can understand the Psalmist when he penned “He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge” (Psalm 91.4a). 

    We too can pray as he did…

    “Be gracious to me O God, be gracious to me for my soul takes refuge in Thee; And in the shadow of Thy wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by. (Psalm 57.1 NASB).