Scripture 1 Kings 3:16-28
It’s Mother’s Day! Some motherly advice …
At times it may be difficult to get the attention of your children … if that happens just try this …
The quickest way for a mother to get the attention of her children is to sit down and look comfortable.
Well, get comfortable mothers and let me share with you what an amazing gift God has given by the birth of children through the ages:
Children are a gift from the Lord, they are a reward form him. Psalm 127:3 paraphrased
EVE
The Original Mother — more specifically, of Cain, Abel, and Seth (and several unnamed others)
You have to feel a little bit of sympathy for the girl who didn’t have a mother to ask about how things were for her back in the day. When the kids had a temperature or were teething she just had to figure it out on her own, but, then again, nobody could look at her and tell her that she was doing it all wrong. She had the mother of all heartache, too. Her sons were involved in the first homicide. She was the first mom to have to bury her child with no other family around to offer support.
Imagine when Eve became pregnant and gave birth – no hospital – no epidural – no experience to even know what was happening except maybe having seen an animal give birth. Adam had to call God(9)11 to know how to deliver the baby. Imagine their recognition of what God had done by giving them children – what a gift…then tragedy when Cain killed Able. They did have other children. Adam and Eve and their children are the beginning of the human race, and even in their sin, they helped set up a redeeming relationship between Jesus and us. What an amazing gift from God.
SARAH
Mother of Isaac
This is the mom who gives hope to everyone who waited a little late to get started on the Mommy Track. Not that she didn’t try. God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. This led Sarah to the logical conclusion that she would be the mother of many nations. When that wasn’t happening in a timely manner, Sarah decided to give her handmaiden Hagar as her maternal substitute. This resulted in a child but not the child. And “the” child is representative of “the” only son of God who would come later as a sacrifice for all mankind. When the messenger of the Lord told Abraham that it really would be Sarah that was going to deliver the promised baby, Sarah overheard, laughed, and promptly got in trouble for it. But consider the joy at almost 100 years old resigning yourself to the fact it will never happen and you are blessed with a beautiful baby. What an amazing gift from God.
ELIZABETH
Mother of John the Baptist
Her story is very similar to Sarah in that she accepted that she would never produce offspring for the husband she loved. Then God showed up and blessed her in her old age with the birth of John the Baptist who became the forerunner of Jesus. What an amazing gift from God.
REBEKAH
Mother of Jacob and Esau
For every mom who has ever had the temptation to play favorites with her children, pay attention to Rebekah. She didn’t just play favorites, she was an accessory to one of the biggest Daddy Dupes in all of history. Scripture says that Isaac loved Esau because he was an outdoors-man but Rebekah loved Jacob. Rebekah was in collusion with Jacob to take the birthright from his older brother. Turns out that this family rift lasted for a long time. Rebekah reminds us that it is a dangerous thing to use maternal power for manipulation. Twin Boys, what an amazing gift from God – a gift that Rebekah misused. It is emblematic of the fact that Jesus himself would one day be betrayed by those closest to him.
BATHSHEBA
Mother of Solomon
Bathsheba was well-named as it was her “bath-ing” that attracted the attention of King David. Their illicit affair resulted in the birth of a son. David tried covering it up by having her husband come home from military service to sleep with his wife to make it seem like it was his baby. That didn’t work so King David sent her husband to the front lines where he was killed. David thought he had gotten away with it. Nathan confronted him and David repented bitterly. But we never really hear how it all affected Bathsheba. Their son, Solomon, turned out to be a peaceable ruler whose wisdom was legendary. Bathsheba’s motherhood gives women hope that, regardless of the circumstances surrounding your pregnancy and the birth of your child, God can redeem any situation. You never know, you might just have the wisest person ever on the planet staring back at you from that high chair. Or, like Mary, who circumstances around the birth of her son were also quite extraordinary, she had the son of God staring back at her from his high chair. Even though Bathsheba’s son was born from a sinful act, Solomon was still an amazing gift from God.
JOCHEBED
Mother of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam
You just have to give it up for her and the midwives who, in their act of civil disobedience, allowed Moses to be born. Those midwives, when asked by the pharaoh why they were not killing the boy babies as commanded, replied that the Hebrew women were “too vigorous” and popped those babies out before they could get there! Thus baby Moses was born but had to be sent down the river (literally) with his sister serving as lookout, only to be pulled out of the water by the pharaoh’s daughter, who secured the services of Moses’ biological mom to nanny him. Moses’ mom shows us that the determination and ingenuity of a desperate mother can result in surprising circumstances. This story points to Jesus, the one who was rescued form Herod who had all the Bethlehem babies killed and went to Egypt for safety, then like Moses led the people out of slavery in Egypt, Jesus leads us out of slavery to sin. What an amazing gift from God.
HANNAH
Samuel
Hannah was unable to conceive. In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord. And she made a vow, saying, "O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life.” That is exactly what God did and she carried through on her promise and Samuel became great among God’s people. Even as Hannah was desperate to have a child, so to the world was desperate for a messiah to come which would happen years later when Jesus was born. What an amazing gift from God.
Mother EUNICE and Grandmother LOIS
Timothy
These women taught Timothy the scriptures from the time he was a baby. The result was nothing short of miraculous – Timothy became a great man of God and largely responsible for the growth of the early church. Paul treated timothy like a son and recognized his faith in Jesus was a direct result of his mother and grandmother’s teaching, example and influence on him as a young child. What an amazing gift from God.
MARY
Mother of Jesus
Mary gives birth to the son of God but still has to change his diapers, tend to is skinned knees, feed him and see that he is educated. She neglects to make sure he is with them on a trip home from Jerusalem and leaves him behind. She was not the first or last mother to have a child go missing and experience the relief on finding him. She pushes him to be the best version of himself at a wedding in Cana. And then we see Mary at the crucifixion. Disciples may scatter, followers may be in hiding, but a mother stays when the rest of the world walks away. In fact, Mary is a rich tapestry of real motherhood: a lot of excitement followed by years of work and moments of intense pain, while seeing her son care for her even as he is dying for the sins of the world he makes sure she is taken care of by his friend and disciple, John. What an amazing gift from God
* Mary giving birth to Jesus seems like the logical place to stop, but there is one more birth story that truly shows what an amazing gift children are to mothers who love them more than life itself.
TWO PROSTITUTES
Baby Split in two
1 Kings 3 is the story where Solomon is offered whatever he wants by God. He asks for wisdom to rule God’s people. God is pleased with his answer and grants him wisdom along with what he did not ask for – wealth, security and a long life. As he is worshipping and sacrificing to the Lord – his very first case comes before him which will test his newly acquired godly wisdom. The case has to do with true motherhood and the recognition that children are an absolute amazing gift from God.
1 Kings 3:16-28
Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One of them said, “My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us. During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son — and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne.”
The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.” But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.
The king said, "This one says, 'My son is alive and your son is dead,' while that one says, 'No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.'” Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!” Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”
When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.
The love of a real mother is a willingness to give up her baby if it would benefit her baby. CHILDREN: What an amazing gift from God.
It is the gift of God, the birth of a child that makes you a mother, a grandmother, an aunt or any other relationship that allows you to know the great gift an opportunity to raise a child in the ways they should go. This gift comes from Jesus, and the greatest way to say thank you for this amazing gift from God is to dedicate that child to God and do all you can to teach by words and example that Jesus is the true son of God and in him alone is found eternal life through receiving a new birth and being born again where God, in you, wants to make all things new!
No comments:
Post a Comment