The Strength Of A Mother

INTRO: The other day, I was eating at a dinner and a man across from me said out of the blue, “You will never have a better friend than your mother!” Well, I thought (or wondered) what kind of problems was going on in his life. But, honestly, our mothers are our friends when no one else seems to be. I know that our spouses should be our dearest friends. If they are not, it very well may be that we are not trying hard enough. But, back to mom, a friend. A friend when all others have gone. Why is that?

Love (on her part)

Unselfishness (on her part)

Motherhood…it is who they are! – As our oldest son will tell his mother, Mom, you’re being a mom again… you see, right or wrong you can’t divorce you mother.

Women are not mentioned in the Bible like men are. It is the men who are the main characters. It is the women who are in the background, not seen as much. Today I want to look at the thread through the Bible that deals with some of the aspects of motherhood. Many of them are not pleasant and some are sad.

Being a mother is not for sissies

Genesis 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Hagar cried and prayed for her child when she could not help him.

Genesis 21:16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.

Jochebed, was the one who knew the love of a mother that God instilled into Pharaoh’s daughter. It would appear that it was her that come up with a plan to save him.

Exodus 2:3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

Often involves things that are hardships in life (protected her sons’ and her nephews’ bodies from vultures)

2 Samuel 21:10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

Motherhood involves true love. It was an unnamed mother who stood for all mothers with her love so great for her child.

Mothers sacrifice in life for their own.

Mothers plan for their children not self

Mothers dream for their children not themselves

Mothers rejoice for their children when they excel

Mothers hurt for their children when they fall short

Etc.

We all know the story of the two women who were standing before Solomon and he was going to divide the disputed child in two…

1 Kings 3:26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.

It is mothers that children need close when they hurt.

2 Kings 4:19-20 And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. {20} And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

This particular woman helped the man of God, and he asked her what she might like in life (a commendation from the king, etc.?) – She only wanted a child for her and her aged husband.

When this son died after an accident, she sought out the man of God (Elisha) and he brought her son back to life.

Honestly, all mothers are not perfect, but there is one who loves us when even mom’s love fails.

Isaiah 49:15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

Is there a loss in this life any larger than mother’s loss?

Jeremiah 31:15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

Mothers are not afraid to ask for help when it comes to their kids.

Matthew 15:22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

Mothers are often the first to introduce Christ to their children

2 Timothy 1:5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

I want to share something I received this week in an email that I thought has a lot of good thoughts…

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you’ve had a baby – that somebody doesn’t know that once you’re a mother, “Normal,” is history.

Somebody said being a mother is boring… That somebody never rode in a car driving by a teenager with a driver’s permit.

Somebody said if you’re a “good” mother your child will turn out “good.”

That somebody thinks a child comes with instructions and a guarantee.

Somebody said that “good” mothers never raise their voices.

That somebody never came out the back door just in time to see their child hit a golf ball through the neighbor’s kitchen window.

Somebody said you don’t need an education to be a mother.

That somebody never helped a fourth grader with her math.

Somebody said you can’t love the fifth child as much as you love the first.

That somebody doesn’t have five children.

Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books.

That somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose [pause] or in his ears.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery.

That somebody never watched her “baby” get o n the bus for their first day of kindergarten [pause] or on a plane headed for military “boot camp.”

Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back.

That somebody that somebody never organized four giggling Brownies to sell cookies.

Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married.

That somebody doesn’t know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother’s heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother’s job is done when her last child leaves home.

That somebody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don’t need to tell her.

That somebody isn’t a mother. -UNKNOWN

So, what is the strength of a mother?

Some will shout LOVE!

Others will yell out, UNSELFISHNESS!

I will calmly assert…MOTHERHOOD

God bless our mothers this day.

May He continue to instill into them the strength of motherhood.

Gary Marcum – New Beginnings Church – 051108am